I'll Be There
by stacelala
Summary: Alex Stark is going through a lot of change between graduating, starting her new job, and being engaged to her boyfriend of two and half years, things get a little overwhelming for her, but Steve is always there to calm her. But what happens when she's not there for him on one of the biggest days of both their lives? Will their love last? (Seaqul to 'Hearts Collide')
1. Chapter 1

Alex stood alone in her bedroom staring at the gown she had just required from the tailor. She bit her lip in anticipation thinking that tomorrow was going to be her big day—the day she had been dreaming about since she was a young girl. She reached out to trace the outline of her gown and became completely oblivious to her surroundings until a familiar voice spoke up and dragged her out of her daze.

"I see someone's excited for tomorrow," stated the voice. Alex immediately looked over her shoulder to see her boyfriend of two and a half years, Steve Rogers, also the famous Captain America, grinning at her. She smiled back at him as he made his way over to her, wrapped his arms around her, and gave her a quick kiss.

"Yeah, that and something else," she mumbled as she turned her attention away from him and back to her gown.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"I'm really nervous, Steve. What if I stutter while I'm talking and make a fool out of myself? What if I mix up the words in my speech? What if I start sweating like crazy and ruin my make-up? What if I end up tripping over my gown? That's happened to me before," rambled Alex.

"I thought's that what you got it tailored for," he replied cheekily.

"I'm serious Steve! It's not just tomorrow's ceremony I'm worried about. I'm worried about what comes after it," she began as she felt her heart racing. "My entire life is going to change and I'm not completely sure I'm ready. I mean, it feels like just the other day I was just getting used to New York, and starting school, and starting to date you and now—"

Steve's lips pressing against Alex's silenced. His lips felt warm against hers and she instinctively kissed him back, allowing herself to forget about her worries and focus on Steve.

Steve pulled back from the kiss and placed his forehead against Alex's, pulling her chin up, and forcing her to look at him.

"Everything is going to be fine, Alex," he said reassuringly. "Tomorrow, you're going to walk down that aisle and you're going to look stunning. Your mom flew in from Maryland for this. Pepper and your dad are going to be there, and if you get nervous before giving your speech, remember that I'm going to be right there too. You have nothing to worry about."

Alex let out a small sigh before uttering, "You're right. I'm getting worked up over nothing. Thanks, Steve."

"You're welcome. Now come to bed with me, you have to get up early tomorrow," he replied as he gestured towards their bed.

Alex smirked at his gesture. "Are you suggesting we fool around?" she asked with a hint of playfulness before trailing her hand down his clothed torso.

"As much as I'd love to. You really need to get to sleep."

"Meanie," Alex pouted, giving him a quick glare before plopping herself on the bed.

Steve followed her, taking his place next to her.

"Well have plenty of time for that _after _the ceremony," added Steve.

"I guess you're right," sighed Alex as she flicked off the lights and nuzzled closer to him. "Goodnight, Steve," she mumbled.

"Goodnight, Alex."

* * *

><p>Tony took his seat next to Pepper and readjusted his tie for the third time that day.<p>

"Tony, relax. Stop being so antsy," Pepper stated as she placed her hand on his knee. "You have nothing to worry about."

"I know, Pepper, it's just— I can't believe it. Alex has grown so much and—"

"Oh, Tony, stop being such a mush," piped another female's voice. Tony looked up and saw Alex's mother taking a seat next to Pepper.

"Hello, Christina," Tony greeted. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you until later."

"No, I wanted a seat near you for our daughter's big day," Christina teased knowing how uncomfortable she was making him.

Pepper giggled at the scene and greeted Christina.

It wasn't long before the sound of the piano resonated throughout the venue where the ceremony was being held followed by the voice saying "I present to you the graduating class of 2015."

The trio, along with everyone else in the room, turned their heads to the doorway where the graduates were making their way into the grand hall where the ceremony was being held.

Alex who was the first in line was easily spotted causing Pepper and Christina to gasp at the sight of her.

"My baby's so beautiful," Christina uttered as she wiped away a stray tear from one of her eyes.

"Who's the mush now?" Tony teased as he snapped a photo of Alex as she sauntered down the aisle.

"Oh, shut up, Tony," Christina scolded as Alex passed them by. She gave the trio a small smile before she took her place in the front of the stage with five other students.

* * *

><p>Alex's heart raced as she waiting for the music to stop indicating the start of the ceremony.<p>

When the music finally came to an end, she watched as the President of NYU make his way to the podium.

"Today we celebrate the completion of a remarkable journey for these outstanding ladies and gentlemen all of whom I am honored to have become acquainted with. I am also honored to introduce this year's class elected speaker, Alexandria Allwheather." [1]

"_Okay, Alex_," she thought as she got up from her seat and made her way to the podium, "_you can do this_."

"_Never mind, I can't do this_," she thought as she saw a sea of people and the urge to run suddenly became almost too tempting to resist, but her nerves calmed when she caught a glimpse of Steve smiling at her. She let out a small sigh and began to address her audience.

"On my first day at NYU, I couldn't help but think 'this is it, this is everything you've ever wanted' and it's true—graduating with a degree in engineering is everything I've ever wanted since I was young girl. But now that I have finally accomplished all that I have set out to do, it saddens me to let it go. It is true that I and all the graduates here will be going off to bigger and better things, but I can't help but feel sad at everything we will be leaving behind as we finish this chapter of our lives. There will be no more Lego robot fights in the lab, no more turning lecture halls into strobe light arenas, and more constant glares from who would tell us that we have to become more serious students if we want to graduate— boy did we prove her wrong."

The sound of a few muffled laughs could be heard throughout the hall.

"As we move on to build skyscrapers or create things that will bring peace remember what it was that got you there—not just everything you learned but your creativity and uniqueness that allowed for such wonderful experiences here at NYU. Congratulations class of 2015. I wish you the best of luck."

The sound of applause could be heard throughout the site and Alex couldn't help the smile that graced her features as she walked off the stage to take her seat once again.

* * *

><p>"Alex!" Steve cried out after the ceremony was over.<p>

"Steve!" she replied as she ran into his arms, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him passionately. Steve responded by wrapping his arms around her waist, picking her up, and spinning her as he kissed her.

"Hey, enough kissing! I thought this was a graduation, not a wedding," Tony remarked with sarcasm oozing from his voice.

"Very funny, dad," Alex responded.

"I'm just kidding. You know I'm proud of you, kiddo. So—when are you going to officially start working for Stark industries?"

"When pigs fly," Christina interjected as she walked over to Alex and hugged her.

"Mom," she groaned as she hugged her mother back. "I'm a grown woman. I can decide what I want to do with my life."

"I know, sweetie. Just know you have other _better_ options."

"Yes, but none of them as good as what I have in store for you," Tony added.

"Oh really?" Christina questioned.

"Yes."

Alex let out a short sigh knowing that the two would be at if for a while.

"Alex, congratulations," she heard Pepper chime in

"Thanks Pepper," she responded as she pulled the taller woman into a hug. "Hey, Pepper. Steve and I have reservations to this restaurant uptown, so I was wondering if you could help me deal with my mom and—"

"Say no more. I'll handle those two. You and Steve go on your celebratory date."

"Thank you. Come on, Steve!"

"Just a second. I'll meet you at the car." Alex nodded as she made her way to the vehicle.

When she was out of site, Steve turned his attention to Pepper.

"So, are you ready for this?" said Pepper as she began to dig for something in her purse.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he responded nervously. "Do you think she'll say yes?"

"You should already know the answer to that," Pepper answered as she handed him a small velvet box that contained she picked up from the jeweler earlier that day.

"You're right. Thanks Pepper," he uttered as he made his way to the car and to the waiting Alex all the while mentally preparing himself to take her out on this date and ask her the question that would drastically change both of their lives.

[1] Although in Chapter one of 'Hearts Collide' Tony calls her Alexandria Stark, the name that is on all her legal papers is Alexandria Allwheather (after her mother).

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Gahhh! It's been too long since I wrote, but I finally did it. And you guys can thank my friend and editor iheartjack0023 for giving an idea of how to write the sequel because I hated the way my original idea was going. I also want to thank her for of course helping me edit this chapter and for putting up with trolling because the original version that I wrote was a lot more vague and one wouldn't be able to tell that it was Alex's graduation, not wedding, until the last second which would have pissed a lot of people off. P.S I'm vacillating if I should start/end off each chapter with a fun fact about Alex of my writing processes just because I can (like how I said I pissed off my editor). Anyway, thank you for reading I would appreciate some feedback telling me what you think or what you hope to see. -Stace **


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of Steve's fingers tapping against the surface of the restaurant table caught Alex's attention as she was ordering her food. She quickly glanced at Steve and noted that he was not only tapping his fingers against the table, but also bouncing his knee. 'What is he hiding?' she thought to herself.

"Will that be all?" asked the waiter.

"Yes. Thank you," Alex responded. She waited for the waiter to leave before she turned her attention to her boyfriend and asked, "So what are you so nervous about?"

"Nervous?" Steve questioned as he raised an eyebrow. "I'm not ner—"

"Steve," Alex interrupted, "I know you and I know that the jittery leg and finger tapping means you're nervous about something" Steve immediately ceased his actions and small smile began to form on his face.

"I really can't hide anything from you. Can I, Alex?"

Alex giggled softly before she shook her head 'no'. "So tell me," she began, "what is it that you're nervous about?"

"It's a surprise. That's all I'm going to say."

"Can I at least get a hint?"

"You're a genius. I'm sure you can figure it out," Steve teased.

Alex gave Steve a small glare before her attention was interrupted by the waiter serving her wine.

"You're food will be ready soon," the waiter stated.

"Thank you," Alex mumbled.

"Here's to you, Alex," Steve cheered as he rose his glass up.

"And to whatever the future has in store for me whether it be good or bad," she continued as she copied his motions before she took a sip of her wine.

Steve took a small sip from his glass and thought _'Don't worry Alex, I promise you everything that's going to happen is going to be great.'_

* * *

><p>"Okay, Alex," Steve began, "You can open your eyes now."<p>

Alex immediately opened her eyes and the scene she saw before her was something that continued to amaze her: the sun began to set in distance. Alex watched as the sun created beautiful shades of oranges, pinks, and yellows as it disappeared behind skyscrapers. She smiled at the sight before she leaned up to give Steve a quick kiss on the lips.

"Thank you, Steve, but I don't see how this is a surprise. We've watched the sunset together a bunch of times."

"I know. We also watched the clouds together a hundred times and have had picnics here just like we had on our first date and listened to musicians, but you still love doing it," Steve pointed out.

"You're right," Alex responded. "So now what?" she asked.

She immediately felt one of Steve's hands in hers and the other on her shoulder. "Dance with me," he whispered into her ear before he took a side step which caused her to follow him.

"Steve," she giggled, "I can't dance. There's no music."

"You don't need music to dance," he replied. "You just need the right partner." Alex grinned at his response and followed him as he led her in a dance. As he spun her around, she could hear the sound of a saxophone being played. She gave Steve a confused look before he answered, "Just because you don't need music, doesn't mean it's not nice to have it."

Alex placed her free hand on Steve's shoulder and continued to follow him. "You know," Alex began as she stared into Steve's eyes, "this reminds me of the first time we went to Central Park together. You tried to get me to run and I ended up dragging you to watch these musicians play."

"Funny you should say that. This is actually the band that played the first time we danced," Steve confessed.

"H-how did you – but I thought they had left," Alex stammered as she became lost for words.

"Surprise," grinned Steve as he pulled Alex's body close to his and pressed his lips against her forehead. Alex smiled in delight as Steve spun her around so that her back pressed against his chest. The two swayed to the beat.

Alex soon found herself lost in the music playing and the feeling of having Steve so close to her. "This was a great surprise," she mumbled as Steve spun her again so that she was facing him.

"Well," Steve dragged out as he pulled Alex closer to his body and ceased dancing, "there's just one more thing I have for you."

"And what would that be?" Alex asked as she gazed into Steve's piercing blue eyes.

"Alexandria Stark," Steve stated as Alex watched him get down one knee and reach for something in his pocket. She gasped at the sight of a small velvet box being opened to reveal a simple silver band with an elegant gem in the center. "Will you marry me?" he asked.

Alex, who was at a loss for words, simply nodded her head affirmatively. Steve grinned in response as he stood up and reached for Alex's left hand to place the engagement ring on her ring finger. Steve locked fingers with her and leaned forward to kiss her. Alex smiled as she felt his lips press against hers before she wrapped her arms around him to deepen their kiss. When the two pulled away, they could hear the sound of cheers and applause. The couple looked up and saw that the band had stopped playing, and where applauding at the couple.

"Congratulations," one of the band members cheered.

"Thank you," responded Steve. "And thank you for the help."

"Anytime, brother," piped the saxophone player as he and the other band members began to pack their instruments.

Alex watched the band leave and then turned to her now-fiancé. She raised an eyebrow at him before she asked, "So how on earth were you able to pull off a private proposal in the middle of central park?"

"I have my ways," Steve grinned before he leaned in to give Alex a tender kiss. "Future Mrs. Alex Rogers," he whispered.

"Who said I was taking your last name?" Alex teased. "Future Mr. Steve Stark," she taunted.

"I don't think I like the idea of having your dad's last name," Steve stated as he shuttered at the thought.

"I was just teasing you," Alex remarked before she placed a kiss on his cheek. "Now come on, we have to go tell everyone the good news," she squealed.

* * *

><p>"God, what's taking those two so long?" Tony asked as he poured himself another glass of liquor. "I thought they'd be over here by now after Alex rejects him."<p>

"Tony," Christina interjected. "Alex is not going to say no to Steve. She loves him. Besides, if you didn't want the two to get married, you should have said now when Steve asked you permission for your daughter's hand in marriage."

"I only said yes to stars and stripes because I figure Alex will turn him down. She's not ready to get married. She just graduated," Tony pointed out.

"Tony," Pepper interrupted as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I know you can't help but be an overprotective dad but, whatever decision Alex makes, you should be happy for her."

"I'm not overprotective," scoffed Tony as he took a sip of his drink. At that very moment, the elevator doors to the top floor of Stark towers opened.

"Here comes the bride," Christina sang in a low voice so that only Pepper and Tony could hear.

"Shut up!" Tony muttered under his breath.

"Mom, dad, Pepper," Alex greeted, "I'm so glad you're all here! Steve and I have some great news."

"Alex and I are getting married," Steve announced.

"Aww," Christina cooed as she pulled Alex in for a quick hug. "My little girl is getting married."

"Congratulations you two," chimed Pepper.

"Tony, are you alright?" Steve asked when he noticed Tony clearing his throat.

"Who Me? I'm fine. I just… I just didn't think Alex would say yes," Tony confessed.

"Tony," Steve stated with a hint of annoyance.

"I'm just joking. Congratulations, Alex. And Steve, I know I've told you this before but, you better not let anything happen to my little girl."

"Dad," Alex began as she intertwined her fingers with the super solider's, "I love Steve. You should trust him," she continued as she leaned forward to kiss the aforementioned man.

"I think this calls for a toast," Pepper commented. "I think Tony has some wine we could use. Let's go grab it."

"Good. I could use a drink," muttered Tony as he stood up to get himself another drink.

"I'll get the glasses," Christina chimed as she left the two alone.

When the two pulled away from each other, Steve smiled at Alex and whispered, "I love you too, Alex. And I promise I won't let anything happen to you.

Alex smiled back at him and whispered, "I know."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yay, chapter 2 :D Anyway, here's what my post schedule is looking like: one chapter a week until I figure out how much time I have to put into school, ok? reviews are more then welcome! Thanks for reading! -stace **


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright! I want to propose a toast," declared Tony as he stood up from his seat and raised his glass. "To Alex and Steve!"

"To Alex and Steve!" chorused everyone at the large table before they all took a sip from their glasses and resumed their conversations.

Alex smiled to herself before returning to her conversation. "Now, where was I?" she asked.

"You were just about to tell us how Steve proposed to you," said Kate Bishop, Clint's apprentice, with enthusiasm.

"Five bucks says he asked you after sex," Clint joked.

"Clint!" Natasha scolded. "Don't be a jerk. He's not you. Five bucks says Steve probably got a band, gave her a million roses, and confessed his undying love for her."

"Okay, you're both wrong," Alex's friend Monica interrupted [2]. "What Steve did was—"

"Hey, will you let me tell the story," Alex cut in.

Steve watched Alex as she told and retold their guest about how he proposed to her; and he smiled at how her hands would make gestures to demonstrate how they danced— and at how her eyes would light up when she talked about him getting down on one knee.

Steve finally broke his focus on Alex when he heard someone say 'congratulations'. He turned to see his friend, Sam Wilson, whom was better known as Falcon, walk toward him.

"Hi, Sam," Steve greeted. "Glad you could make it."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. Besides, I think Alex's friend Monica is totally into me. Do you think you can set me up with her?" Sam asked.

"Only if you'll be my best man."

"Deal," responded Sam.

* * *

><p>Sunlight entered the small room and hit Alex's face causing her to scrunch it in discomfort and shift her body sideways so that the light would hit her back instead. As she did this, Steve decided to also shift and adjust the arm he had had wrapped around Alex so he could pull her closer to his body in a new found position.<p>

Alex smiled at Steve's actions for two reasons: the first being that she knew he always did this when she moved and it always made her feel like Steve was trying to protect her even in his sleep. The second reason was that it allowed her to feel his morning wood against her inner thigh. Alex's smile turned into a smirk when she heard Steve mumble her name into his pillow. 'Is he having a wet dream with me even after last night?' she thought to herself as she wriggled around his grip so her face was closer to his.

"Yes, Steve?" she whispered into his ear. "What do you want me to do to you?"

"I need you to touch me, Alex," Steve mumbled half-asleep.

"Of course, anything for my fiancé," she said seductively as she reached down and allowed her fingers to slightly graze his hard length over his boxers and give it a light squeeze.

The feeling of Alex's hand on his member caused Steve's to wake up.

"Alex, please don't tease me," grunted the sleepy super solider after he realized what Alex had done in order to wake him.

"Well you did say you wanted me to touch you," she teased which caused Steve to blush. "Aww, how cute," Alex said before she gave Steve a quick kiss. "Now come on, get up and get dressed, Pepper set up a meeting for us with the wedding planner at ten and I don't want to be late," she commanded as she got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom.

"Didn't we see him yesterday?" Steve questioned.

"Yes, but the wedding is four months away and there's still so much to do," she called out from the bathroom.

"Fine," Steve sighed.

"Also, remind me that I have to refill my birth control. I've been so busy with work and planning our wedding that I almost forgot."

"Okay, so wedding planner, birth control, anything else I should know?" Steve questioned as he stuck his head into the bathroom door.

"I love you," Alex smiled.

* * *

><p>Alex examined the line of women all clad in the same navy blue dress that stood in front of her. She gave them all one last glance before she declared, "Lose the bow in the front, they make you girls look like a bunch of Christmas gifts."<p>

"Thank God," Natasha sighed before she got out of the line to take said bow off her dress.

"You're welcome," Alex scoffed as she took a bite out of her sandwich.

"Now, Alex, put down your food. It's your turn to try on your dress," Christina stated before she took the food out of Alex's hand.

"But—food," Alex moaned in disappointment.

"Now, Alex. You'll get your sandwich back when you're finished," Pepper reassured.

Alex let out a long sigh before entering the changing room to try on her dress.

"How does it fit?" Christina asked from outside the changing room.

Alex did not respond. Instead she stepped out of her dressing room with her gown and veil on which caused Pepper and Christina to both gasp in amazement.

"Oh, sweetie, you look beautiful," uttered Christina.

"Thanks, mom," Alex replied with a smile. "But, can you tell the tailor to loosen it a bit. I want to be able to eat on my wedding day."

Pepper giggled at Alex's response. "Alex, I promise you'll be able to eat on your wedding day."

"Great," Alex grinned. "Now give me back my sandwich."

* * *

><p>"Alex, I'm home," Steve announced as he entered their apartment suite [1]. "Did the caterer come over yet?" he asked, but received no response. "Alex?" he questioned as he entered their bedroom and heard strange sounds from the bathroom. He cautiously entered the bathroom only to find Alex hunched over the toilet emptying out the contents of her stomach.<p>

"Alex, what happened?" he asked as he rushed to her side to hold her long hair back.

"Water," she groaned in response.

Steve immediately grabbed the bathroom cup from the cabinet that he kept for Alex's occasional hangovers and filled it with water from the sink before he handed it to her.

Alex took a gulp of the water and swished it around her mouth before she spat it out to get rid of the taste of vomit.

"Thank you, Steve," she mumbled before she got up and wiped her mouth.

"You're welcome," he responded. "So are you going to tell me what happened?"

"I'm late," Alex sighed as she existed the bathroom.

"Late?" Steve questioned as he followed her out. "Late for what?"

"My period is late," she stated plainly as she plopped herself on the bed.

"You mean you're pregnant?" Steve asked with a hint of excitement in his voice. "Alex's that's grea—"

"Or it can mean that all this wedding planning is stressing me out so much that it's effecting my menstrual cycle," Alex stated defensively.

"What's with the attitude? You don't want to have a baby with me?" Steve asked offended.

"No— I do," Alex began, "It's just— I don't want to get your hopes up, only to find out that I'm not pregnant. I know how disappointed you were the last time."

Steve let out a low sigh before he climbed on top of the bed and wrapped his arms around Alex from behind. "That doesn't matter, Alex," Steve whispered into her ear.

"What do you mean that doesn't matter, Steve?"

"I mean that you're going to be my wife soon and that's all that I care about for now. If you're pregnant then I hope our child with have your beautiful smile. If you're not that's okay because in a few weeks I'll be marrying the most gorgeous woman on earth."

"Really?" Alex asked as she turned to face him.

"Really, really," Steve responded which caused Alex to smile.

"Alright, then," Alex said as she got up from the bed. "Let's go find out."

* * *

><p>Alex waited impatiently in the clinic room for the doctor to return with the test results.<p>

"What's taking so long," Alex groaned. "The doctor said two o'clock it's 2:10 already."

"Relax Alex. If you wanted to know so badly then you should have done a home pregnancy test instead of going to the clinic and then waiting two days for the result," Steve pointed out

"You know I don't trust the drug store tests and I can't relax. I have a wedding to plan."

"That's why you have Pepper, Nat, and you're wedding planner for," Steve pointed out. "Now will you please relax?"

"I'll relax when we find out if I'm pregnant or n—"

"Hello Miss. Allweather," the doctor greeted as she entered the room. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine, but what's the verdict?" Alex asked impatiently.

"Well, according to your results, you are in fact pregnant," responded the doctor. "Now if you'd like, you can go to the front desk to set up an appointment with one of the obstetricians upstairs and they can tell you how far along you are—"

"Yes, that'd be great," Alex blurted out in excitement.

"Alright then, I'll leave you two alone," the doctor stated before she left the room and made her way to the office.

"So," Steve began as he turned his attention to Alex. "Are you glad you know now?" he asked as a small smile began to form on his face.

"Yes," Alex smirked before she leaned forward to kiss Steve. When she pulled away from him, she asked, "Are you excited to be a daddy?"

"Yes. I'm excited to start a family with you, and build a nursery for the baby, and finally be able to call Tony 'grandpa' for a change."

"Slow down there, Steve," Alex interrupted. "I still have a wedding to plan out. We can worry about doing all of that _after_ I walk down the aisle and say 'I do' to you. Okay?"

"I'm fine with that," Steve smiled.

* * *

><p>When the doctor entered her office,she closed the door before taking a seat. While she going through her emails, she heard her office phone ring. The caller I.D read 'private'. Thinking that it was a patient, she casually answered the phone.<p>

"Hello," she greeted.

"Mommy," she heard her child cry from the other line.

"Derek what's wrong? What happened?"

"There- there's a man in the house that said he would kill me," the young boy cried.

"Derek, put the man on the phone!" she exclaimed.

"Hello Dr. Parker. You have a lovely son," a deep voice from the other line stated.

"Leave him alone!" she demanded.

"Dr. Parker, your son's life rests in my hands. If you cooperate with me, I'll leave him alone. If not..."

"Wh-what do you want from me?" the doctor asked nervously.

"I need all the information you have on one of your patientz," they began, "Last name: Allweather. First name: Alex."

* * *

><p>[1] Just so you guys know, Alex and Steve have been sharing a suite in Stark tower for about a year.<p>

[2] Monica is Alex's old friend from high school. She's an African American women who majored in biology. I'm still developing her character though :/


	4. Chapter 4

Alex and Steve waited patiently for the obstetrician to enter the rooms that Alex could receive her first ultrasound. She and Steve were excited at the fact that they would get a first look at their unborn child as well as find out how far along the pregnancy Alex was.

"Hello," greeted the obstetrician. "You must be Alex. I'm Dr. Wong, I'll be performing your ultrasound today. Now if you could just lie down on the examination table there and lift up your shirt, we can get started," Dr. Wong stated as she walked over to the ultrasound machine and took out ultrasound gel from one of the cabinets.

Alex obliged, turning her attention, afterword's, to the blank image on the computer screen that would soon show her and Steve their baby.

"This might feel a little cold," Doctor Wong noted before Alex felt a cool sensation on her abdomen followed by the ultrasound transducer pressing against her.

Alex's eyes lit up when the image on the computer screen was no longer a blank one, but instead showed a series of grey waves and the outline of a tiny human head and body.

"Steve, look at our baby," Alex piped.

"I see," Steve responded as he observed the image on the screen. "He's a bit bigger than I thought her would be."

"Well," Dr. Wong interrupted, "Considering that Alex is about twelve weeks pregnant, I'd say that your child is just the right size."

"Wait—twelve weeks?"Alex asked in astonishment. "That's about three months."

"Indeed it is," Dr. Wong replied nonchalantly. "You should be due in April."

"Wow," Alex uttered as she inhaled deeply.

"Are you alright, Alex?" Steve asked with concern as he turned to face her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just— everything is happening a lot faster than I thought it would," Alex admitted.

"Alex, I'm so sorry," Steve began, "If you want to slow things down and postpone the wedding."

"And then have our baby born out of wedlock?" Alex gasped which caused Steve to lift an eyebrow in confusion. "That was a joke," Alex sighed. "It's fine. Everything is fine. I'm just a little overwhelmed with what's going on, but don't worry."

"Alex, are you sure you're okay with everything?"

"Of course I am," she reassured Steve while she thinking, "_Am I really ready for all of this_?"

* * *

><p>"No, no, no. I need the banner to be a bit higher," Alex instructed two of the decorators.<p>

"Alex, it's just a banner. It's not a big deal," Monica pointed out.

"I know, it's just—the wedding is tomorrow and—"

"And you need to stop stressing and come have fun with me and the girls tonight," Monica interrupted.

"But—"

"No buts!" Monica declared as she placed her hands on Alex's shoulders and led her out of the reception hall.

"Monica, where are you taking me?" Alex questioned as she was lead to a red convertible in which Natasha and a two other of her female friends were. Alex raised an eyebrow as she noted that everyone was clad in a party dress and their hair and make-up was a bit 80's.

"Isn't it obvious?" Monica questioned as she walked over to the driver's seat and went in. "We're going to your bachelorette party."

"But we're in Long Island [1]. There's no place to party here!" Alex exclaimed.

"Girl, the city is only a hop, skip and a jump away," Monica stated. "Besides, why should lover boy have all the fun before the big day?"

"Okay fine," Alex sighed as she opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat. "But no alcohol for me, I don't want to have to deal with a hangover before tomorrow's ceremony.

"Come on, one or two shots won't kill you," Monica begged with pleading eyes.

"It's never one or two shots with you," Alex stated plainly, her hazel eyes staring down Monica's chocolate brown ones.

"Fine, okay," Monica huffed as she put the car into drive and made her way onto the highway.

Alex sighed in relief that Monica had believed her reasons for not wanting to drink. She and Steve had wanted to keep her pregnancy a secret and Alex thought that avoiding alcohol until after the wedding would have raised suspicions. Thankfully, it didn't.

"So," Alex began as she took a glimpse of the girls from the review mirror, "What's with 80's dos? Where are we going?"

"Monica thought it would be a good idea to party like it was 1989 [2]," Natasha answered as she handed Alex a bag with clothes in it. "Here, change into these before we get to the venue."

Alex looked through the contents of the bag. It had contained a short white dress similar to Natasha's and a plastic tiara veil.

"So who's idea was it make me stick out like a sore thumb?" Alex asked sarcastically. "I mean honestly, why didn't you just get me a sash saying 'Here Comes the Bride'."

"The store was out of those sashes," Monica giggled. "And it was my idea—brides get free things like lap dances," she teased.

"Monica—I swear, if you're taking me to a strip club—" Alex warned as her face began to turn red.

"Alex. I promise, you're going to have fun," Monica reassured.

* * *

><p>Monica had been right; Alex was having the most fun she had had since she had gotten engaged. As she moved her body to the beat of the song, she allowed her worries about the wedding to slip away and decided to sing along to the song playing.<p>

"I want to be the one to walk in the sun," Alex sung off key.

"Oh, girls just want to have fun," Monica and a few other women at the venue chorused.

When the song had finished playing, the DJ had announced that the next song was a slow song.

"Monica, come over here," Alex requested. "You're slow dancing with me."

"Umm…you do know slow dancing is just a classy way to feel people up before they have sex in the bathroom, right?" Monica commented.

"No it's not," Alex scoffed. "And if it is, I hope you brought protection," Alex joked as Monica moved closer to her, hugged her and began to move to music.

"Well, if we do end up doing it, then you can't marry Steve. Once you go black, you can't go back," Monica teased.

"Thanks for the warning," Alex giggled as she followed Monica's steps. "And thank you for the bachelorette party. I really needed it."

"You're welcome. I'm glad you liked it. So, are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Of course," Alex replied with a smile.

* * *

><p>[1] So Alex is getting married in Long Island which is why she's there<p>

[2] My editor thought '1989' was a fall of the Berlin wall reference, but it's not. If you google Awesome 80's Prom (which is where Alex is having her bacholorete party) it's states it set in 1989

**A/N:** Okay so this is the last chapter before the wedding and all the drama starts and you're going to be in for a big surprise. I hoped you liked the chapter. Reviews are always awesome -stace


	5. Chapter 5

Alex stared at her reflection in the mirror, her mouth agape in amazement— every strand of her usually messy hair was in place, neatly in a low bun, her makeup was simple but emphasized her eyes, and her grown hid the small bump that had been developing on her midsection.

"Alex, sweetie, you look gorgeous," Christian cooed.

"Steve is going to be in awe when he sees you walking down the aisle," complimented Pepper.

"Thanks, mom," Alex replied. She smiled softly to herself as thought about how Steve would react. '_He would probably be at a loss for words,_' she thought to herself as she recalled the numerous times Steve would be speechless or stumble on his words when she would dress up for their anniversary dates. _'I hope he doesn't stumble on his words when he's saying his vows...'_

"I'd just wish you'd take off that darn bracelet," Christina stated as she gestured at the bracelet Alex had made with (and used against) her father two years ago. "It doesn't really go with your dress and it's not like you need it or anything," continued Christina.

"Mom," Alex whined. "You know I never take it off."

"But, Alex—"

"Don't worry, Christina," Pepper interrupted as she took out a small velvet bag out of her purse. "I have just the thing you need." Pepper reached into the velvet bag and pulled out a set of earrings and a necklace that matched Alex's bracelet.

"Wait, where did you get those?" Alex questioned as Pepper handed her the jewelry.

"Well the necklace is an old one of mine that I don't wear any more so you can borrow it and the earrings I convinced Tony to buy for you just in case," explained Pepper.

"Wow, Pepper. You really are prepared for anything," Alex stated amazed.

Pepper nodded in agreement. "Well, I'm going to go see how everyone else is. If you need me for anything let me know," Pepper stated as she existed the room.

"Now all I need is something new and something blue," Alex muttered to herself as she began putting on the earrings.

"Sweetie, is everything alright?" Christina asked concerned as she watched her daughter's hands tremble while she tried to put on her earrings. "Do you need help?"

"I'm fine," Alex lied as she continued to attempt to put on the earrings, missing the hole each time. Alex muttered curses under her breath as she poked every part of her earlobe but the pierced hole. She suddenly felt another hand grab hers gently and pulled the earrings away from her.

"Alex, you don't need to be nervous," Christina assured Alex as she put on Alex's earring for her followed by the necklace. "Everything is going to be alright, kiddo," whispered Christina as she gave Alex's shoulder a small squeeze.

"Mom, there's something I have to tell you," Alex admitted. "Steve and I were going to wait until after the wedding to tell people, but I can't keep it to myself anymore," she sighed. "I'm pregnant."

Alex waited for a gasp or for her mother's eyes to widen in shock, but instead she saw Christina smiling at her in response.

"Alex, I already knew that."

"How?" Alex asked as she raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I'm a nurse, Alex. I noticed you vomiting a lot and the small bump that you're trying to hide with your dress. Nice job hiding it by the way."

Before Alex could breathe a word, she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," she responded.

Tony had poked his head inside and stated, "The ceremony is going to start soon. Christina, you might want to take your seat."

"Thank you, Tony," Christina stated plainly before whispering 'don't worry' to Alex and leaving the room.

"Alex, do you want me to wait with you here?" Tony asked.

"No, it's okay—I have to use the bathroom," Alex lied. "I'll meet you in the hall in a few minutes."

"Okay, then. You look beautiful by the way," Tony said with a smile. "I can't believe you're getting married already."

"Thanks dad. I can't believe it either."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tony joked. "Because we can always ditch the wedding and go get burgers or something—"

"Dad!" Alex interrupted. "I want to marry Steve."

"I know you do. I'll see you soon," Tony stated before he closed the door and left Alex alone.

Alex turned to look at her reflection in the mirror before whispering to herself, "I want to marry Steve."However, she didn't feel so sure of her words so she closed her eyes and let out a long sigh before she opened them again and saying with confidence, "I want to marry Steve."

"I'm going to walk down that aisle and say 'I do' to him," Alex rambled, becoming oblivious to her surroundings. "Then we're going to dance and eat at the reception and have our honey moon and when we get back we're going to tell everyone the big news and everything is going to be perfect."

"Aww, what a cute little future you have planned out for yourself," someone interrupted.

Alex turned her attention to the person who was talking only to find that it that one of the waiters that was preparing for the reception that was in the room.

"Umm…yeah," Alex uttered awkwardly as she stared at the waiter confused. "I'm sorry, but shouldn't you be getting things ready for the reception?" she asked, trying not to sound rude.

"Oh no. I 'm not a waiter," the fake waiter stated bluntly."I'm actually here to kidnap you," he said with a smirk on his face.

"What?"Alex asked in disbelief.

"You're coming with me," the kidnapper stated plainly as he pulled out a gun from his back pocket and aimed it at Alex.

"Like hell I am!" Alex exclaimed as she raised her right arm and aimed her bracelet at his gun, shooting at it causing the gun to fly out of the kidnapper's hands.

"Now who do you work for?" Alex demanded as she aimed her bracelet at the kidnapper.

"Feisty, aren't we?" the kidnapper mocked. "But you're coming with me," he continued as he stepped forward to punch Alex in the face.

Alex, however, quickly stepped backed and blocked his attack, grateful that she still remembered a few things from Clint and Steve's training. She then attempted to roundhouse kick him in the head, but her wedding gown limited her range of motion and was only able to kick his torso, sending him a few steps back. Alex took that opportunity to run for the door.

"Dad!" Alex attempted to call out, but she felt a large hand cover her mouth, immediately preventing her from speaking and pulling her close to the kidnapper.

"Shut up!" the kidnapper demanded as he used his free hand to reach into one of his front pockets.

Alex grunted in response and began kicking and squirming as an attempt to break free from his grasp, but had no luck.

"Now be a good girl and settle down," the kidnapper whispered into Alex's ear as he placed a cholorform soaked rag over her face.

Alex protested and continued to squirm around, but soon she felt herself lose control over her limbs and her vision being to become blurry.

'_Steve, help me,'_ Alex thought as she slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

"I've got the girl," the kidnapper said into a small microphone in his collar. "She's unconscious so go with plan B."

"Copy," replied the kidnapper's partner into the ear piece.

The kidnapper laid Alex's body on the floor and eyed the bracelet she had used to attack him.

"Better get rid of this," he said to himself as he removed Alex's bracelet and tossed it to aside.

* * *

><p>"Hi, Monica," Tony greeted as he spotted her coming from where the bathrooms were. "Have you seen Alex?"<p>

"No, I haven't. Why?" Monica asked.

"She was supposed to be here by now. I'm going to see what's holding her up," Tony stated as he began to make his way back to Alex's room.

"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked.

"No, it's okay. Besides the ceremony is about to start."

Steve waited nervously in front of the altar as the ceremony began. He watched as the bridesmaids were being escorted down the aisle by the groomsmen and took their place to either side of him in front of the aisle. The next one to walk down the aisle was Monica who was being escorted by Sam. As Monica took her place next to where Alex would be, she mouthed to Steve 'relax' which caused Steve to smile as he waited for Alex to walk down the aisle with Tony.

After the flower-girl and ring-bearer made their ways down the aisle, the pianist went from playing 'Canon in D major' to the intro of 'Here Comes the Bride'.

"All rise for the bride," the minster announced as everyone stood up and waited for Alex to appear. Steve bit on his lip anticipating Alex's entrance, however, no such entrance was made. As time passed, Steve heard guests whispering things like 'Where is she?' and 'Did she leave him at the altar?' His heart sank at the idea of Alex leaving him at the altar especially since he knew how nervous she had been at how quickly things were changing.

"I can't believe it," Steve uttered after twenty minutes passed and there was no sign of Alex.

"Maybe it's not what you think," Monica stated hopefully. "Maybe she had too many breakfast burritos; you know how she gets when—"

"Nice try, Monica," Steve said as he gave her a half smile before the heartbroken super soldier exited the service room and made his way to the bride's room where he hoped Alex would be.

When he entered the room, he found Tony standing there alone.

"She's not here, Cap," Tony sighed. "She's not anywhere. She's gone."

"No," Steve stated in disbelief. "She wouldn't just leave like that."

"I'm sorry, Steve. But she did."

Steve's stared at the ground trying to figure out why Alex had decided to leave him. While he stared at the ground, his eyes caught a glimpse of something small shining on the floor and walked over to said object.

"What do you have there?" Tony asked.

"It's Alex's bracelet," he gasped.

"What do you mean 'Its Alex's bracelet'?"

"Take a look for yourself," Steve said as he handed over the bracelet to Tony.

Tony examined the bracelet, his eyes widening when he realized it was the bracelet that he had made with Alex. "That's impossible. Alex never takes off her bracelet."

"I know she doesn't," Steve stated. "And yet, it's still here."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Dun dun dun~ I hope you guys enjoyed please leave some reviews or your thougts/reactions to this chapter because my friend/editor would love to know since she helped me plot this. Also, if anyone is a Klaus fan from 'The Vampire Diaries' please check out her new fic called 'The Fearless & The Fearmonger' by IheartJack0023 it would mean a lot to me. Thank you. Next Chapter is going to be up next Sunday -stace


	6. Chapter 6

"There has to be a logical explanation for Alex not having her bracelet with her," Tony remarked as he began thinking of reasons.

"Like what?" Steve questioned.

"Like…Christina didn't want her to wear it because it clashed with her dress," Tony rambled. "Although I don't know why since Pepper made me buy those earrings for her in case Christina would complain about that," he mumbled.

"Well, if that were the case, then why was it on the floor?"

Before Tony could answer Steve's question, Christina and Pepper entered the room.

"Guys, what's going on?" Pepper asked. "Where's Alex."

"I don't know," Tony sighed.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Christina questioned. "Weren't you the last person to talk to her?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I know where she is," Tony pointed out. "I looked all over the church for her and all I found was her bracelet," Tony continued as she showed it to Christina.

"This can't be!"Christina uttered in disbelief when she saw the bracelet in front of her eyes. Christina stood in silence for a while before she asked, "What did you say to her?"

"What do you mean 'what did I say to her'? What does that have to do anything with—"

"She was a little nervous when Pepper and I were getting her ready," Christina interrupted. "Did you say anything to upset her?"

"No I didn't. I just told her that if she wanted to she could ditch the wedding and we could go grab some burgers, but it was a joke."

"How is that a joke?" Steve asked as he stared at Tony in annoyance.

"She laughed—kind of."

"Damn it, Tony. She probably got mad at you for saying that and threw her bracelet on the floor before running off to God knows where!" Christina exclaimed in frustration.

"Oh, really? You're going to blame this on me?"

"Why else would she run off like that?"

"Both of you calm down," Pepper intervened. "Look, Alex couldn't have gone far. I'm sure we'll find her and she can explain to us why she ran off. Isn't that right, Steve?"

However, the groom had made his way out of the room and onto the church grounds in hopes of running into Alex.

'Where are you?' Steve thought to himself as he ran around the gardens that he knew she loved. His eyes caught a glimpse of a brown haired women walking aimlessly through the gardens by herself and, thinking that it was his bride to be, Steve immediately ran over to her.

"Alex!" he called out as he stretched his arm out to touch her shoulder.

The woman gasped in surprise at his touch and turned to face Steve.

"Oh my God! You scared the crap out of me," she mumbled.

"Sorry," Steve apologized when he realized that the woman was not Alex. "I thought you were someone else."

"It's fine," the woman said as she walked away, leaving Steve by himself.

Steve clenched his fist in frustration before he let out along sigh and pulled out his phone. He immediately dialed Alex's number and waited patiently for her to pick up. When she did not he inhaled deeply before allowing it to go to voice mail and, preparing the words he was going to say.

"Hi, Alex— It's Steve. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not mad at you; I just want to make sure you're okay. You're mom was telling me about how nervous you were, so I understand. I love you, Alex and wherever you are I hope you're safe."

* * *

><p>Alex woke up a few hours later with her back aching. She shot open her eyes and became confused by her surroundings: a small faucet in one corner, a toilet in another, four brick walls surrounding her, a large metal door in one of them. She looked down and realized two things. The first being that she was a on top of a lumpy mattress with blood stained sheets ;the second being that she was no longer wearing her wedding dress. Instead, she was clad in an over sized T-shirt and a pair of shorts.<p>

'What the hell?' Alex thought to herself trying to remember what had happened. As she began recalling recent events, she heard footsteps from outside the room coming closer.

The large metal door creaked open and the man who she recalled fighting with earlier was standing in the doorway.

"Well, look who's finally up," the kidnapper stated with a sinister smile as he entered the small room.

"Where am I?" Alex demanded as she raised her left arm prepared to use her bracelet against him once more. However, when she looked down at her wrist, her eyes widened in shock when she realized it was no longer there.

"Yeah, not so tough now are you?" he mocked as he grabbed her by the wrist. "Come on, you're coming with me."

"No. Let go of me!" Alex demanded as she tried to pull herself out of his grip, but was unsuccessful.

"Nice try, sweet cheeks," but you don't have anything against—ow! "

The kidnapper winced in pain as he felt Alex's nails digging into the sensitive area of his underarm and loosening his grip on her in response [1] which allowed Alex to free herself from and began making an escape.

Alex flew down the hall and made a sharp left in hopes that she would find a way to escape before he caught up with her, but, instead, she bumped into three people dressed in the same uniform.

"Hey, who are you?" questioned one of the uniformed men.

"I—," Alex mumbled unsure of what to say.

"Guards!" the kidnapper called out. "Stop her!"

Alex looked back and saw that he had caught up to her, but before she could move, she felt a pair of hands grab both of her arms from behind her.

"This must be the girl the boss has been waiting for," one of guards said to the other.

"Come on, let's take her to the lab."

"No. Let me go," Alex protested as they carried her to a large room with various machines that resembled medical equipment and a metal examination table in the center.

"What are you doing to me?" Alex exclaimed as the guards placed her on the examination table and began to strap her down.

"So this is her?" asked a woman clad in a white lab coat as she walked over to Alex. "Okay, well let's set her up and run some tests on her to make sure everything is okay?"

"Hey, spoiler alert: I'm not okay! In case you haven't noticed, I've been kidnapped," Alex remarked.

"Gag her if you need to," the woman sighed before she began injecting an IV needle into Alex's arm.

* * *

><p>"Come on, pick up. Pick up. Pick up," Steve repeated into his phone only to hear the words 'you have reached the voice mail box of Alex Stark please leave a message after the tone'.<p>

"Dammit," Steve cursed under his breath before hanging up.

"Steve, please don't be upset," Christina pleaded as she squeezed his shoulder in comfort.

"How can I not be upset?" Steve scoffed. "Alex is gone. I have no idea where she is or whether or not she's safe, and there's nothing that I can do about it."

"Steve, I know it's hard for you, but you have to be calm so you can figure out a way to find out what happened to her."

"Yeah, Steve. You're her fiancé. Instead of just sitting around moping about how she's not here, why don't you actually do something about it?" Tony scoffed.

"Well, what do you want me to do?"Steve asked aggravated. "I've been looking for her for hours and I've found no sign of her."

"I don't know, but don't just sit around. You promised Alex that you wouldn't let anything happen to her when you proposed to her and look what's happened," Tony ranted. "You're not even married to her yet and she's already mysteriously disappeared. If I would have known that this was going to happen, I would have never said yes to you when you asked me for her hand in marriage."

"Well, why don't _you_ do something? You're her father and you're probably the reason why she left," snapped Steve.

"Fine, I will," Tony responded as he made his way outside in a pursuit to find his daughter. Tony waited until he was outside to activate his Mark 42 armor.

"JARVIS," Tony stated as the armor from his suit began to cover his body.

"Yes, sir," JARVIS responded.

"I'm going to need you to access all security camera footage from my location from about twelve hours ago and run a facial recognition search."

"Accessing footage now. May I ask who is it that you are searching for?"

"Alex. And I'm sure as hell going to find her," Tony stated with determination.

* * *

><p>[1] So I was looking up self defense for woman and one thing that was effective was pinching your attacker in sensitive areas like the under arm and inner thigh with a lot of force. I tried doing this with my brother who is much stronger than I am and it worked so if (god forbid) anything happens to any of you, try that technique<p>

**A/N:** I hope you guys enjoyed let me know your thoughts about this chapter and also two things: 1) like with my first Alex story, I'm working on a gif and photo archive for this story and once I have it semi established, I'll include a link to anyone who is interested 2) I'm not sure if I'll be posting a chapter next week. I really want to, but I'm behind my writing schedule (usually I would have next week's chapter finished and sent to my friend to edit but this isn't the case) and I'm not sure when I'll be writing or if I'll have the motivation to :( truth be told, I haven't had a lot of motivation to do anything as of late and it's starting to effect me academically, it's effecting the things I used to take interest in (including plotting and writing) and a few other things. So I'm not going to write until I get my shit together and catch up on school and I'm not going to post the next chapter is (to my standards) amazing. So sorry about that and the long rant. ~stace


	7. Chapter 7

Alex lay wide awake on top of the lumpy mattress trying to process what had happened to her in the last few hours. She was drugged, kidnapped, strapped to an examination table, poked with needles, had various tests done to her, and then was thrown back into a room that resembled a prison cell— but what for?

The only reason she could come up with was that they were using her as a subject for something.

'That would explain all the medical exams they did to me yesterday,' Alex thought as she turned so that she was lying on her side. 'But why me? There's seven billion people to choose from, what makes me so special? Maybe they're using me to get to me dad?'

Alex sighed quietly to herself as her hand grazed the small bump on her stomach. "You know what, squishy?" Alex began as she decided at that moment the nickname she would use for her unborn child, "I hope that guy who kidnapped us honestly thought it was a good idea because I know he's going to regret it the second your father and grandfather find us."

From the distance, Alex could hear the sound of footsteps approaching her cell door. The door creaked open and a female guard with a metal food tray entered. Alex raised an eyebrow in suspicion. She was anticipating her kidnapper to enter, not a guard, and she was expecting to be taken somewhere not to be given food.

"Here you go. Eat up." the guard stated apathetically as she passed Alex the tray.

Alex eyed the bowl of oatmeal and the glass of orange juice that lay in front of her before asking, "Is this your way of poisoning me?"

"Yes. We're trying to kill you with a balanced meal," the guard responded sarcastically.

"You call this a balanced meal?" Alex questioned as she poked at the oatmeal with a spoon.

"Well, it's more balanced than the sugary, fatty diet you've been on," the guard said bluntly.

"How did you—"

"It showed up on your test results," the guard interrupted.

Alex said nothing as she continued to stare at the food like a child.

"Look— eat it or don't eat it. I don't care, but don't blame me when the doctor is feeding you through a tube," the guard scoffed before exiting Alex's cell and locking the door behind her.

"You know what, squishy? It may not be a bacon, egg, and cheese but, I'm hungry," Alex muttered before scooping up a spoonful of oatmeal and putting it in her mouth.

She cringed the instant the cold goo touched her tongue and fought the urge to spit it out. After forcing herself to swallow, Alex immediately reached for the juice and took a large gulp in order to wash out the cold oatmeal taste.

"Okay; hungry or not, that was just gross. I want pancakes," Alex sighed as she allowed her mind to wander.

She became so engulfed with her thoughts of the pancakes her mother would make her when she went to visit that she didn't notice the door to her cell opening again.

"Morning," greeted a male voice sinisterly.

Alex looked up to see the man that had kidnapped her standing in her cell doorway.

"Wow First I get crappy oatmeal. Then I have to see you. If the reason why you kidnapped me was to torture me, you're doing a fantastic job," Alex said sarcastically.

"Very funny," the kidnapper stated not amused. "Now, come on. The doctor and the master need to see you."

"Whoa—Doctor? Master?" Alex scoffed. "Am I on some crack episode of Doctor Who?"

"Will you just shut up and follow me?" the kidnapper said annoyed.

Alex got up from the mattress and walked over to him but before she could exit, she felt a gun being pressed against her jaw.

"Oh, and if you try to escape like you did yesterday, I'll shoot you. Understand?"

Alex remained silent.

"I'll take that as a yes," the kidnapper stated as he removed his gun from Alex's jaw and began walking in the direction of the lab from the previous day.

Upon entering the lab, Alex asked, "So who's this master you were talking about?"

"He's the man in charge. Can't you tell by the title, genius?" the kidnapper answered condescendingly.

"Wel,l first off, considering that you were the one that kidnapped me, I thought you were the one in charge. Secondly, no one calls their boss 'master' unless they're a maid which I wouldn't put past you," teased Alex.

"You know what?" the kidnapper said as he took out his gun and aimed it at Alex.

"That's enough," the doctor interjected causing the kidnapper to turn his attention to the female doctor. "I'll take it from here Agent Jones."

Agent Jones gave Alex one last glance before putting away his gun and leaving the laboratory.

"So," the doctor began, "are you going to go on the examination table like a good girl or are we going to have to strap you down like a child like we did yesterday?"

"I don't know, maybe I'll stop acting like a child when you stop treating me like one and tell me why the hell I'm here," Alex pointed out.

"You have something that my boss wants. Was that so hard to figure out?" the doctor responded nonchalantly. "Now lift up your shirt and lay down. "

Alex reluctantly did as she was told and lay down on the examination table. From the corner of her eye she could see another figure enter the room and make their way over to the doctor. She overhead the two talking about tests result and various other things which made Alex conclude that this new person was the boss that Agent Jones was talking about.

"So this is her?" the unknown person asked as they walked over to the examination table that Alex was lying down on.

"She has a name, you know," Alex began as she sat up to look at the person whose idea it was to take her. "And her name is—"

However, Alex immediately became silent when she realized exactly who the boss was. 'It can't be,' she thought as she was overwhelmed with fear. 'I thought he died a long time ago.'

"Her name is Alexandria Stark: the soon to be Mrs. Rogers. Or at least you were until I captured you," the boss taunted.

"Voldemort?" Alex asked as she squinted her eyes at the man in front of her to hide her fear. "I thought you died at the Battle of Hogwarts."

After her sly remark, Alex felt his hand smack her across the face causing a stinging sensation on her left cheek.

"Fool. Do you have any idea who you are dealing with?"

"Darth Mauls' grandfather," Alex responded which earned herself another slap to the face.

Alex clenched her fist trying not to focus on the pain. "What do you want from me, Red Skull? Did you drag me here to get to Steve so you can use him for whatever insane super solider project you have going on?"

"Do you honestly think that I'd waste my time on someone like him? Someone so weak?"

"If he's so weak, then why did he defeat you in the past?"

"Silence!" Red Skull exclaimed.

Refusing to give into his orders, Alex replied, "You know you should wear some sunblock. You're burnt down to the bone."

Red Skulll, who had enough of Alex's clever remarks grabbed her by neck and began to squeeze it; slowly suffocating her in the process.

"Boss," the doctor stated firmly.

Red Skull slowly released his grip on Alex, knowing very well that she was no use to him dead.

"As I assume you know, the super solider serum enhances various physical attributes and various attempts of duplication with the serum that Steve Rogers was given have been made. Some of the attempts have been made with some success while others have caused mutation on the human bodies that do not know how to handle the effects of the serum. For the past few years Hydra has been working on a way to ensure that the serum will not cause mutation and will be one hundred percent effective. And then you came along: a human being with the genetic code of a super solider inside of them."

"Okay, slow down," Alex interrupted. "I'm Alex _Stark_—as in the great Tony Stark, son of Howard Stark. And even though my grandfather was part of the Super Solider project, that doesn't mean he nor I are the key to your precious serum."

"I'm not interested in you. I'm interested in the child growing inside of you. A child that is genetically half-human and half super-human."

"Don't you dare hurt my baby," Alex warned as her maternal instincts began to kick in.

"I wouldn't dream of it. I need that child alive and well; so get comfortable. You're going to be here for a while."

* * *

><p>"I hope she's okay," Steve uttered as he looked at his phone for any new messages.<p>

"Steve, Alex is a strong girl. I'm sure that wherever she is, she's fine," Christina reassured.

"It's not just her I'm worried about," Steve began as he mentally prepared himself to tell Christina the news he and Alex had been saving until after the wedding. "You see, Christina, the thing is, Alex is—"

"Steve, I've got a lead," Tony asked as he entered the room.

"What is it?"

"It's a car that showed up at the church before the ceremony started," Tony began to explain. "At first I thought that it belonged to the catering company or something, but when I ran its plates, it didn't match with any car from the band, the florist, or any of the guests. It's not much, but it's better than anything you came up with, so are you in?"

"When do we start?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I did it! I was actually able to write this chapter! Hope you guys like the plot twist because I loved writing this chapter. I especially loved writing Alex's more sarcastic side (which will come into play later on). Also, fun fact: the bit where Alex tells Red Skull he needs sunblock was added last minute because I saw a gif of Red Skull and Dr. doofenshmirtz and my friend told me I had to add that. -stace


	8. Chapter 8

Alex let out a sigh as she pulled off her covers and sat on her bed with her legs crossed. She began to fiddle with the necklace that Steve had given her two Christmases ago as her mind processed the recent events that had occurred. She became so lost in thought that she almost didn't notice the person shuffling beside her.

"Hey, are you awake?" asked a tired voice.

"Sorry, Steve," Alex apologized. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Don't worry about it," Steve responded as he pushed the blankets off of himself and sat up next to Alex. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about stuff and realized that I'm going to be a mom," Alex stated plainly.

"Yeah and you're going to be a great one," Steve grinned as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against her shoulder.

"But what if I'm not?" Alex blurted. "I don't know anything about raising a child. What if I end up being the worst mother ever and our kid hates me?"

"Alex that's ridiculous."

"That's easy for you to say," Alex sighed. "You're going to be an amazing father."

"Really?" Steve questioned as he raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"It's because you're kind, and patient, and sweet, but also firm and fair and overall perfect father material," Alex pointed out. "And I'm none of those things."

"That's because you're going to be a mom, not a dad," Steve chuckled. "Besides, you're caring, loving, and willing to do anything to protect the ones you love. That's what's going to make you a great mom. And remember, this parenting thing is a two person job and I'm going to be with you every step of the way so stop worrying about it."

"I guess you're right," Alex sighed. "I have nothing to worry about…except for building the crib, and setting up the nursery and—"

"Alex, don't worry. We have plenty of time for everything. Now get some rest," Steve stated as he went back to lying on the bed.

"Okay fine, but promise me you'll start working on the nursery after the wedding," Alex replied as she took her spot next to him with her back pressed against his chest.

"I promise," Steve whispered as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

* * *

><p>"Steve," Alex mumbled into her pillow until the sound of her cell door opening woke her.<p>

"Breakfast time," the female guard declared as she entered the cell carrying a metal tray.

'It was only a dream,' Alex thought as the tray of food was placed in front of her.

"Eat up," the guard stated as Alex examined the cup of green liquid on the tray.

"What is this?" Alex questioned.

"It's vegetable juice. It contains a lot of the vitamins you need."

"You could have just given me vitamin pills or a V8," Alex pointed out.

"Well, you eat what I give you," the guard stated before exiting the cell.

Alex took a sip of the vegetable juice and immediately regretted it.

"Okay no," Alex mumbled as she put down the cup of juice and proceeded in poking at the scrambled egg on the plate.

"You know what. Forget it. I'm not eating," Alex said to herself as she threw the juice and eggs into the toilet.

"I'm sorry squishy. I know you need me to eat, but I can't," she sighed.

"Just wait until you're daddy comes then we can have pizza, and chicken, and anything else you want."

* * *

><p>"So why is it that Natasha and I are in Tennessee?" Steve asked into his cell phone.<p>

"Apparently the person who was driving the unknown van was a twenty nine year old woman named Suzan Alverez, and according to what I found, she's just outside Nashville, Tennessee," Tony responded from the other line.

"Okay, so why aren't you here? Don't you want to find Alex too?" Steve questioned.

"Of course I want to find her and I'm going to, but someone has to be here going through nationwide surveillance in case Alex pops up anywhere," Tony replied. "Anyway, you and Natasha have to figure out what this person knows," Tony said before he hung up.

Steve grunted in frustration before he put his phone back in his pocket and approached the address Tony have given them.

"Don't worry, Steve. If this Suzan knows anything that can help us find Alex, I'll get it out of her," Natasha stated before knocking on the door.

"Just a second," responded a female from inside the house. After a few seconds, the front door opened to reveal a tall woman with blonde hair standing in front of the two.

"How can I help you?" the women asked.

"Hello Miss Alverez, I'm detective Swanson. This is my partner detective Smith. We're with the Nashville police force and we'd like to ask you some questions regarding a missing person, if you don't mind," Natasha stated plainly.

"Umm…sure. Come right in and call me Suzan," Suzan responded as she stepped aside to allow Steve and Natasha to enter.

Suzan led the two into her living room and gestured them to take a seat.

"Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee? Tea?" Suzan rambled.

"We're fine, Suzan. We'd just like to know if you've seen anything suspicious over the last week. Any new people or unfamiliar vehicles," Natasha asked authoritatively.

"No, I haven't seen anything. I've been away for a bit," Suzan stated, clearing her throat afterward.

"Oh, really? Where did you go?"

"I don't think that's of any importance," Suzan began.

"Ma'am, just answer the question," Steve interrupted, catching Suzan off guard.

"I—I went to Philadelphia to visit my brother and his wife."

"And you haven't seen this woman?" Natasha asked as she pulled out a photo from her bag and handed it to Suzan. "She was last seen in Nashville last Friday."

"Impossible," Suzan uttered as she examined the brunette woman in the photo.

"Excuse me, what was that?" Natasha asked.

"I said it's impossible for me to have seen her. I've been away— remember?" Suzan stated nervously.

Natasha examined Suzan momentarily before she asked, "Why are you lying?"

"What?" Suzan asked in confusion. "I'm not lying, detective. I told you I don't know who Alex is nor have I seen her before."

"How did you know her name if you've never seen her before?" Steve asked as he clenched his fist.

"You said her name when you introduced yourselves," Suzan lied.

"No we did not. Now tell me everything you know, or I swear I will—"

"Steve, leave." Natasha ordered.

"There's no way I'm going to—"

"Yes, you are because if you stay here you're going to end up hurting this woman and that's not going to help. Now, go wait for me outside."

"Fine," Steve said as he reluctantly got up from his seat. "But you better find out everything."

"I already told you I would," Natasha replied as she watched Steve exit the house.

"So what's the news?" Steve asked as he saw Natasha leave the house.

"She doesn't know where Alex is."

"That's impossible," Steve interrupted. "She—"

"She was just a random woman who was used to take Alex from the church to a port in Rhode Island. I already sent Tony the location of where she was dropped off and he's looking into it."

"Nat, there's got to be more than that. Did you find out who wanted Alex and why they took her?" Steve asked.

"She didn't know who she was helping. They just gave her cash to drive," Natasha replied.

"Really, Nat? You're a spy and that's all you got out of her? Look, I'm going to go back and find out—"

"Steve! I already found out everything she knows."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do," Natasha asserted. "Look, I know you want to find Alex, but you have to be rational. You can't just come in ready to hurt someone in hopes that they'll tell you what you want to hear."

"You do it all the time," Steve pointed out.

"When the time calls for it and this wasn't one of those times."

"Look, Nat. It' not just Alex I'm worried about," begun Steve. "It's—"

"Your kid," she interrupted. "Suzan told me that whoever kidnapped Alex knew she was pregnant."

"That's not possible," Steve said in disbelief. "The only person who knew about that besides Alex and I was her doctor."

"Well then I guess we have to pay a visit to Alex's doctor."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**Cliff Hanger, hanging from a cliff~ And that's why he's called Cliff Hanger! (my friend died laughing and got mad at me when I wrote that part). Any way, I hope you enjoyed. Sorry if it was a little dry. I just really needed to set things up for the next chapter which will be a bit more intense :| -stace


	9. Chapter 9

Alex was staring at the wall when she heard the door to her cell open indicating that the guard had come to bring Alex her meal. Alex turned her head to face the guard and the guard was in shock when she made contact with Alex's face— the whites of her eyes had a pink tint to them and dark rings circled her eyes.

"What happened to you?" the guard questioned as she slowly approached Alex, placing the food tray on the floor as she got a better look.

"I haven't slept in two days. Can't you tell?" Alex replied sarcastically, her voice horse.

"Why haven't you been getting enough sleep? That's not good for the baby."

"I haven't slept because I have this damn pain in my stomach from not eating that keeps me up at night," Alex answered in a raspy voice.

"What is wrong with you? You need to eat—"

"Why? So Red Skull can get that perfect healthy super baby he wants?" Alex scoffed weakly. "I don't think so."

The guard grabbed hold of one of Alex's arms and pressed two fingers against her wrist only to discover that Alex's heart rate was well below normal. "We have to get you to the doctor," the guard stated as she pulled Alex over her shoulder and began carrying her out of her cell.

"No, put me down," Alex protested as she attempted to fight off the guard. However, due to her weakened state, Alex's attempts proved feeble.

The guard rushed to the lab and burst through the lab doors, catching the doctor's attention.

"What are you doing with her?" the doctor questioned at the sight of the guard carrying Alex. "She's supposed to be in her cell."

"She needs medical attention. She hasn't eaten in days and is suffering from starvation and possible dehydration," the guard replied.

"WHAT?!" the doctor exclaimed. "How is that possi—"

"That doesn't matter right now. She needs nutrients," the guard interrupted.

"Okay, strap her down to the examination table. If she's dehydrating, I need to administer her a saline solution with an IV needle."

The guard did as she was told and placed Alex on the examination table, strapping her down so that she wouldn't fight back even though Alex was too powerless to do so.

"What are you doing?" Alex questioned confused as she saw the doctor approaching her with a needle.

"Leave me alone," she mumbled, her vision becoming blurry.

"This is for your own good," the doctor stated plainly as she stuck the needle in Alex's left arm before Alex blacked out.

* * *

><p>"So did you get any new leads from that location Natasha sent you?" Steve asked as he entered Tony's lab.<p>

"No. I had J.A.R.V.I.S go through the security footage from that port they supposedly dropped off Alex at and found no site of Alex or that woman's van," Tony relied.

"Wait—so you're saying that that woman Nat interrogated tricked us? Ugh. I knew I should have—"

"Easy, Capsicle," Tony interjected. "I said J.A.R.V.I.S didn't find anything on Alex or the van, but what we did notice that was that the security footage for that area was set on loop so—"

"Whoever was there was covering their tracks," Steve uttered in frustration.

"Was Nat able to get any information that would help us find Alex?"

"Our suspect didn't know who she was working for or where they were taking Alex. The only thing they knew…was why they wanted Alex," Steve sighed, debating in his head whether or not he should tell Tony about Alex's pregnancy, unsure of how he would react. Steve remembered that the last time Tony had thought Alex was pregnant, Tony was ready to kill him and if Tony reacted the same way, it would not help the situation.

"Well, spill it grandpa. What did they want with Alex?" Tony asked.

Steve could see the frustration as well as the concern for Alex's safety on Tony's face that made him resolve his decision.

"They kidnapped Alex for her child," Steve responded.

"She's pregnant. Congratulations, Tony, _you're_ going to be a grandpa," Steve sighed as he anticipated the worst from Tony.

"How?" was the only words that came out of Tony's mouth after he heard the news.

"Tony, you're an adult. I'm pretty sure you can figure out how Alex—"

"No. I don't mean that," Tony said with a hint of disgust in his tone.

"I meant how did whoever kidnapped her know that she was pregnant?" Tony questioned.

"I was going to go to Dr. Parker to find out. She was the only other person who knew so I think she may have been compromised."

"Well, let's go find out who compromised her. It's bad enough they put my daughter in danger, but now they want to put my grandchild in danger. I don't think so," Tony stated firmly as he got up and made his way out of his lab.

"Also, _don't _call me grandpa."

* * *

><p>"So, I see you're awake," boomed Red Skull's voice moments after Alex regained consciousness.<p>

Alex squinted her eyes and attempted to get up from where she was laying only to feel the leather straps pressing against her wrists and ankles constricting her.

"Not so fast. What did you think you were going to pull with your 'not eating' routine? Huh? Did you honestly think you were going to rob me of what I want?"

"Look, you can poke me with needles and fill me with fluids that will keep me sustained all you want, but—"

"You stupid girl," interrupted Red Skull.

"My doctors didn't feed you with needles. They only gave you saline so you wouldn't dehydrate. I made them leave the task of feeding you to me," he said as he pulled out a tube from one of the cabinet draws.

"What are you doing with that?" Alex asked as she watched Red Skull approach her.

"Teaching you a lesson," he responded as he positioned one end of the tube at her nostril and began to slowly insert it up her nose.

Alex began to thrash in terror as an attempt get the tube out of her nose, but it only caused it to go further in more jaggedly.

"Fight it all you want," mocked Red Skull. "You're only making things worse for yourself."

Alex listened to his words as she felt the tube hit the back of her throat making her want to gag. She felt tears beginning to form in her eyes from the pain as the tube continued to go further down her throat.

When Red Skull had finally stopped inserting the tube down her throat, he connected the other end of the tube to a machine and turned the machine on.

Alex watched as a thick white goo moved through her tubes and entered her body via her nose.

"Mahlzeit![1]" Red Skull said eerily before he left Alex alone in the lab. ([1] That's a German equivalent to 'Bon Appetite')

* * *

><p>Dr. Parker was sitting in her office checking emails when she heard a knock on her door.<p>

"The door's open," she said as two men entered her office.

"Mr. Rogers, I wasn't expecting to see y—"

"Who did you tell?" Steve interrupted getting straight to the point.

"Tell who what?" Dr. Parker asked trying to sound innocent.

"Don't try to act innocent, doctor. Alex is missing and the reason why is because whoever took her wants to do something to our child. You were the only one person who knew so who did you tell?"

Dr. Parker remained silent, refusing to answer.

"Dr. Parker, you have to tell us so we can find her," Tony stated.

"I'm sorry. I can't help you," Dr. Parker said apologetically. "I don't know."

"How could you not know?" Steve demanded as he slammed his fist against her desk.

"They called my phone and asked me to give them all the information I had on Ms. Allweather. I didn't know they were going to kidnap her," Dr. Parker admitted.

"What did you think they were going to do with her?" Steve asked in a spiteful voice.

"Look, I'm sorry. I had no other choice. They were going to hurt my son."

"How long ago did this happen?" Tony asked.

"It happened the day that Ms. Allweather came in for her test results."

"Give me your phone," Tony requested.

"Okay, but why?" Dr. Parker asked as she handed her cell phone to Tony.

"I think I might be able to trace the source of the call."

"But that call was over two months ago."

"It's worth a shot and I'm going to take it," replied Tony with determination.

* * *

><p>"Breakfast time," called the guard as she opened Alex's cell.<p>

"Thanks," Alex said apathetically as she watched the guard place the tray on the floor as usual. Alex noticed that instead of having a plate of food on the tray, there was a Styrofoam container instead and raised her eyebrow in suspicion.

"What's with the Styrofoam? Is it my new source of nutrients now?" Alex asked sarcastically.

"Open the container you idiot," the guard replied.

Alex did as she was told and opened the container to reveal a plain cheeseburger. Her mouth watered at the sight of it, but immediately closed the container and pushed the tray away.

"Okay, what kind of sick joke is this? You force me to eat through a tube for a week and then you try to give me real food."

"It's not a joke. It's what you want. I overheard you mumbling 'I want a cheeseburger' when you were given the saline treatment so I thought I would get you one," the guard said trying to sound apathetic.

"Why would you do that?"

"I felt sorry for you. Happy?" the guard scoffed.

"Why would you feel sorry for me?" Alex questioned as she picked up the container and opened it. "I'm your prisoner."

"Yes, but your also five months pregnant and I'm the only one here that actually knows what that's like, so I have to look out for you," the guard admitted.

"Does that mean you're going to help me bust out of here?" Alex mumbled as she took a bit of her burger.

"Nice try," the guard scoffed. "But you're going to be here for a while, so get comfortable."

"That's what you think. Any day now, my fiancé is going to find me and when that happens, I suggest you run."

"Thanks for the warning," the guard said as she began to exit Alex's cell.

"Hey, wait," Alex called out. "What's your name"?

"It's Annabelle."

"Well, thanks for the burger, Annabelle."

* * *

><p>"Dammit," Tony muttered under his breath. "This can't be happening."<p>

"What is it, Tony?" Steve asked.

"I'm done," Tony responded. "The number I got from tracing the doctor's call gave me came from a disposable phone. There's no information that goes with it."

"Well, maybe you missed something. It's not possible that the number doesn't at least give you a name of some sort—even if it's an alias."

"That's the thing about disposable phones, you can't find out who bought it or even where they bought it. Hell, it was a miracle I even got a number from it. That number hasn't been active for weeks." Tony sighed in frustration. "We're back to square one.

Dun dun dun~


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **There's some flashbacks in this chapter indicated by '***' ok.

* * *

><p>Alex woke up in the same cell that she had been sleeping in every night. She stared at the same ceiling as she waited for Annabel to arrive at the same time with her morning meal. As she waited for the recurring scenario to play out she felt an unfamiliar feeling in her abdominal area.<p>

'Was that,' she thought as she immediately sat up and placed her hands over her womb waiting to see if she would feel that unfamiliar sensation again.

"Squishy, was that you or does mommy have gas?" Alex asked out loud. Moments later she felt a tap from inside her stomach.

"Morning," Annabel greeted as she opened Alex's cell door and stepped inside. "I was able to sneak you a—"

"Annabel, come here."

"What is it?" Annabel asked as she placed Alex's food tray on the floor and walked over to her.

"Is everything alright?" Annabel questioned.

"Do you feel that?" Alex asked as she took one of Annabel's hands and placed over her stomach. Annabel looked at Alex strangely before she felt a small force pressing against her hand.

"The kid started kicking?"

"I think so. I didn't know that babies started kicking so early. I thought that that happened later on," Alex admitted.

"I'd hardly call nineteen weeks early; I'd say you're exactly where you're supposed to be," Annabel giggled as she felt Alex's child press against her hand for a second time.

'Nineteen?' Alex thought to herself. 'That can't be. I was only twelve weeks when they brought me here. There's no way I could have been here for more than two weeks. Steve or my dad should have found me by now.'

"Alex, are you okay?" Annabel asked, snapping Alex out of her train of thought.

"No, I'm not okay," begun Alex. "Why did you just say that I was nineteen weeks pregnant?"

"Because you are, duh," Annabelle replied sarcastically. "Couldn't you tell by your huge bump?"

"I can't be. That would mean I've been here for almost two months."

"You have been."

"But my fiancé—" Alex began.

"Is not coming to save you," Annabelle interrupted. "Because if he was, he would have by now."

"But—"

"I'm sorry, Alex, but that's just how it is. Now eat your breakfast," Annabelle sighed before she exited the cell.

* * *

><p>Alex lied on the examination table motionless as usual waiting for the doctor to do whatever tests she needed to do. She drowned out the sound of the doctor and her assistant fumbling around with the equipment and ignored the pinching sensation caused by a needle going through her arm and the coldness of the ultrasound gel being applied to her abdomen. Her mind began to wander and she thought of a time that felt not too long ago to her.<p>

"What if we turn the guest room into a nursery?" Alex said out loud.

"That sounds good on paper but, where will your mom stay when she visits?" Steve pointed out. "Face it, Alex. It's about time we move out of Stark Towers."

"No, we don't. Our apartment might not have enough rooms, but my mom could stay in my old room upstairs. Besides, where else are we going to live that has a state of the art lab that I can use whenever I want or a training facility for you and, besides, the building has my name on it—we have to stay."

"Alex, we're going to be starting a family. Don't you want us to have our own home where we can raise our son or daughter like normal people?" Steve asked.

"I do," Alex sighed. "But I also want to be not too far from my dad or Pepper and if we stay here it will be easier for you to do your S.H.I.E.L.D stuff. Besides, it will give us time to adjust to being parents—please Steve."

"Okay fine, we can stay here for a while after the baby is born as long as we'll eventually get a house with a backyard so I can teach the kid to play baseball."

"Baseball?" Alex began as she gave Steve a suspicious look. "You're not hoping for a boy, are you?"

"A boy would be great, but if we have a girl I'd be more than happy to teach her how to play baseball or how to draw. What about you?"

"Well," Alex began, "If we have a boy, I could show them how to play videogames and dress them up as Squirtle and if we have a girl, I could show them how to play videogames and dress them up as a Chikarita."

"You do know you're not giving birth to a Pokémon, right?"

"Of course I know," assured Alex.

"I'm going to give birth to a little boy or a little girl and they're either going to be little angles like you or they're going have the classic Stark sass like me. It's a fifty-fifty chance," Alex joked.

"So when are you going to find out if it's a boy or a girl?" asked Steve.

"I'm supposed to get a sonogram in about two months to find out the gender," Alex replied. "Make sure you're not on a mission or something so you can be there when I find out, okay?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Alex was brought back to reality when she heard the doctor talking to her assistant

"The child seems to be doing well and her tests show no signs of abnormalities. Our boss will be pleased to know that," the doctor said to her assistant.

"What's that weird bump? Is it cancer?" questioned the one of the guards.

"That's the child's penis. It's a boy, you idiot," the doctor scolded. "It's a good thing you're not a doctor."

"I'm having a boy?" Alex asked.

"Apparently so," the guard responded.

"You idiot, she's not supposed to know that," the doctor whispered.

"Why not?" questioned the guard.

"Because," began the doctor.

As the doctor went on about procedures and such, Alex ignored their conversation and thought about the recent news.

'I can't believe I'm having a son,' Alex thought. 'A son I'll never get to know.'

"Guards, take her back to her cell," the doctor ordered.

The guards did as they were told and brought of Alex back to her cell. As they closed the door, she overheard one guard say, "I don't know why the doctor has so many protocols. It doesn't matter if the girl knows the gender of the baby or not; she's as good as dead once it's born.'

Those words struck fear into Alex and she thought to herself, 'I have to find a way out of here.'

* * *

><p>"No, that won't work either. I have no idea where they lead to," muttered Alex as she mentally crossed out escaping through the drainage pipes in the shower room.<p>

"There's got to be a way out," Alex said to herself as she began drawing out as much as the layout of the building's layout as possible on the dusty floor.

"So here's my cell. Here's the lab. Here's the shower room. Over there are two long halls that I don't know where they lead too and—that's it. That's all I know. Shit. I'm never going to get out of here," Alex whispered to herself.

'But I can't let Red Skull take my child and use it for evil—there has to be something I can do to stop him,' Alex thought to herself as she began to brainstorm.

As she tried to come up with her plan, she remembered what Tony once told her when she was young.

Alex had snuck into Tony's lab late one night hoping to get an early start on the robotic dog she had been working on earlier that day. As Alex opened the door to the lab, she could hear the sounds of objects being smashed.

"Dad," she began as she entered the lab cautiously. "What are you doing?"

"Alex, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be asleep."

"Why are you destroying the new weapon you made?" Alex asked confused.

"There's been a security breech and I'm afraid that this might fall into the wrong hands," Tony replied.

"I— I don't understand. Why don't you just hide it somewhere where they can't find it?"

"It's not that simple, Alex," Tony sighed. "As a creator, it's my job to make things that will help the world, but it's also my job to make sure no one can use what I create for something that will destroy the world— that's the case right now. I have to destroy my creation before it becomes a threat to someone," Tony explained. "Do you understand?"

"I think so," Alex answered.

"Alright then, go back to sleep, honey."

"Hey, dad…how will I know if I have to destroy something I've created just like you have?" questioned Alex.

"When there's not much else you can do," Tony sighed unknowingly leaving a lasting impression on Alex's twelve-year-old self.

'But is this really my only option?' Alex thought as she heard footsteps approaching her cell followed by Annabelle entering her cell to deliver Alex her dinner.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'm sorry this came out a bit late. I had trouble figuring out what to include and what not to include. I was originally going to add two more scenes to this chapter, but my editor friend said it would be better if I saved it for the next chapter so.. *queue suspense*. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed. Let me know what you're thinking/ how you feel. -Stace


	11. Chapter 11

'All things aside, if it were a machine, or a chemical weapon that was being taken from me, I would do everything in my power to prevent it from being used,' Alex thought to herself as she shifted positions and turned so that she was lying on her left side.

'But it's not a machine that's being taken from me. It's mine and Steve's child and if I try to kill my child, then I'm definitely not the kind of mom that Steve thought I would be— but he promised he would never let anything happen to me yet here I am so maybe he's not the man I thought he was…'

She exhaled deeply as the words she had heard come to mind again: 'Once that baby is born, she's as good as dead.'

Alex bit her lip; the guard's words made her realize that she wasn't going to be able to be a mom—ever.

"He's not going to be a child," Alex stated, referring to her unborn son. "The minute he's born, Red Skull is going to use him to finally be able create his army of evil super-soldiers. He will be nothing but a weapon to Red Skull and everyone here— and I'm not going to let Red Skull have his weapon," Alex sighed as she made her decision.

"Okay…so how am I going to do this?" Alex asked herself, trying to come up with an idea.

She knew that women could perform self-induced abortions by throwing themselves down a flight of stairs or inserting coat hangers in their cervix, but she was in her cell most of the day so was very limited with what she could do; the only items she had in her cell were her blanket, a nail clipper that Annabelle had given her, some tooth paste, a toothbrush, a hair bush, a towel, and the uncomfortable mattress she was lying on.

"Fuck," Alex muttered as she kicked the bottom of the mattress in frustrations causing it to squeak.

"I have no way of forcing a miscarriage, I can't escape, and I'm going to spend the last three months of my life stuck here. hopeless and this damn mattress won't stop squeaking," she babbled as she continued to kick the bottom of the mattress.

'Wait a minute,' Alex thought as she sat up straight, an idea beginning to formulate in her head.

"The squeaking from the mattress is caused by weak springs within," Alex told herself as she fumbled to get the nail clipper she hid in her pillow case. Once she found the nail clipper she opened it in such a way that the file part with the hook end was sticking out. She stabbed the file into the mattress, using the hook part of the file to pierce through the upholstery. Once in, she jerked the nail clipper around so that she could create a small hole in the mattress. She repeated this process until she had a large enough hole. She began removing mattress foam and exposed the metal springs. She began to counter turn one of the springs so that it would uncoil and rise out of the mattress.

With much time and effort, Alex was eventually able to make one of the coiled springs into a crocked nine inch wire that stuck straight out of her mattress.

****Warning: Graphic content. Not for the faint-hearted****

"I guess this is it," Alex whispered to herself as she removed her shorts and underwear and positioned herself so that she was squatting just above the tip of the wire.

"I'm sorry it turned out this way, squishy. But I can't allow you to be used by some psychopath and this is the only way. If it were up to me, none of this would have happened and you and I would be back in New York eating pizza and watching movies with your dad not having to worry about you being taken from me, but that's not the case," Alex sighed, trying to hold back her tears.

Alex cringed as she began to lower herself onto the wire, using her right hand to guide it into her vagina. She gasped, wanting to stop as she felt the wire pierce her cervix followed by blood trickling down her inner thigh.

"No. I have to keep going," Alex told herself as he clenched her left fist and bit her lip in pain as she continued to insert the wire further inside her.

More blood began to slowly trickle down her inner thigh, but shortly after the wire was completely inside her; blood began rushing more rapidly, indicating that she had pierced through the fetal sac.

'You're not going to have him, Red Skull,' Alex thought as she inhaled deeply trying to hold in her cries of pain as she watched the blood cover her legs and feet and stain her mattress.

'…No one is now.'

* * *

><p>Annabelle began exiting the kitchen as usual with the meal that the chef had prepared for Alex: whole wheat toast and scrambled eggs with spinach.<p>

"Do you have any bacon?" Annabelle asked the chef before she left, knowing that Alex loved bacon with her eggs and, nine out ten times, would refuse to eat scrambled eggs without them.

"Why are you asking?" responded the chef, paying no mind to Annabelle.

"Because I want bacon, obviously," Annabelle huffed. "So do you have any bacon or not?"

"No. You'll just have to find something else to snack on, guard," the chef replied.

Annabelle rolled her eyes before leaving the kitchen completely and making her way to Alex's cell.

As she got closer, she grabbed the keys attached to her belt and inserted one into the keyhole.

"Get up, Alex, it's time for breakfast," Annabelle began she turned the key and began to open the cell door. "I wasn't able to get you any bacon, so you're just going to have to eat your eggs—"

Annabelle dropped the tray in her hands when she fully opened the door and say Alex lying on the floor unconscious and covered in blood.

"Alex, what did you do?" Annabelle yelled as she rushed to Alex's side, pressing two fingers against her neck to see if there was a pulse. She felt a faint pulse and let out a small sigh of relief before grabbing Alex and throwing her over her shoulder.

"Please stay alive. Please stay alive," Annabelle muttered as she rushed to the doctor's lab. She burst through the doors hoping that the doctor would be there, but she only saw two of the doctor's assistants prepping the machines that were supposed to be used later that day for another test.

"What are you doing? You're not supposed to be— what happened to her?" one of the doctor's assistant asked as he caught sight of Alex covered in blood.

"I don't know," Annabelle replied. "I found her like this. One of you go and get the doctor."

"I'll go get her," answered the second assistant as Annabelle set Alex down on the examination table.

"From the looks of it, the source of her blood loss is coming from inside her," the assistant said as he lifted Alex's long shirt to reveal a path of blood from her inner thighs coming from her vagina. "It's unusual for women at this stage to lose this much blood from a miscarriage and pass out so she must have somehow managed to use something to perform a self-induced abortion."

'Why would you do that, Alex?' Annabelle thought confused as the doctor's assistant fumbled with the ultrasound machine. Quickly applying the ultrasound gel over Alex's abdomen and watching the screen.

"Thank God the child's okay,"' the assistant sighed.

"You're worried about the child?" Annabelle asked in anger. "Worry about _her_. She's the one who's the priority! Do something to her!"

"I'm getting to that," the assistant replied as he put down the ultrasound equipment and pulled out ivy needles and tubes from the draws.

Annabelle watched as the assistant set Alex up with a saline solution like the doctor had when Alex has tried to starve her self.

"Doesn't she need blood?" Annabelle asked.

"My colleague will bring some when he gets the doctor," replied the assistant. "Now, if you don't mind, please leave."

"You're the one that did an ultrasound on her before giving her medical attention. There's no way I'm leaving."

"You're not a doctor. Now leave." Before Annabelle could protest, the doctor entered the lab followed by her assistant carrying three bags of blood.

"What happened here?" asked the doctor as she examined Alex.

"From what I can tell, a self-induced abortion," responded the first assistant

"You," the doctor said, gesturing to the other assistance, "set it up so we can do a blood transfusion."

"And you, set her up to the heart monitor," the doctor ordered. "We need to check her heart rate."

"You," the doctor began gesturing at Annabelle. "Get out of here."

"But—"

"Out!" the doctor demanded.

Annabelle clutched her fist before she made her way out of the lab thinking, 'Please be okay, Alex.'

* * *

><p>"The child seems to be doing well, but the mother's heart rate is decreasing," stated one of the assistants.<p>

"How can that be?" questioned the second assistant.

"You forget that the child is no ordinary child. He has super- human abilities; he can heal himself, but by doing so, he's weakening his mother and he will continue to do so until she dies. We have to make her stronger."

"How?" asked the first assistant. "We already gave her the blood transfusion there's nothing else we can do."

"There is one thing," the doctor stated as she unlocked one of the cabinets and grabbed a small veil with blue liquid.

"What is that?"

"It's an unperfected version of the super solider serum. If I give it to her, her body will become strong enough to handle the child's healing."

"But we don't the side effects she'll have from it. The last person who was given that serum – it didn't end well for them."

"It's the only option we have. Now hold her still while I inject the serum."

The two assistants held Alex down by her arms as the doctor jabbed the needle into Alex's upper left arm, slowly injecting the serum. Alex immediately jolted, the sensation of the serum entering her body causing her to wake, and screamed in agonizing pain as the monitor beeped rapidly, indicating an increase in her heart rate.

"I said, hold her down," the doctor yelled, having difficulty injecting the rest of the serum.

The assistants pushed Alex back down and held her with a firmer grip as the doctor continued to inject the last bit of the serum into Alex's body.

Alex continued to scream in pain. The injection made her feel as if she were being pierced by the wire again, only a hundred times worse.

"It…worked," said one of the assistant in amazement as the monitor indicated that Alex's heart rate was back to normal.

Alex let out several deep breaths as an attempt to recover from the pain she felt had just experience.

"You two go get her guard. Tell the guard to clear herself of anything she could use to hurt herself," the doctor stated. "We need to make sure she doesn't try something like that again."

**A/N: **That was probably the hardest chapter I've ever had to right because it was difficult to figure out how Alex would feel and react and do to her entire situation and here it is. I also got a little squeamish while writing certain parts so sorry for any of you that felt that way. I also realized that this chapter might have upset some people so if you're upset, I'm sorry. If you're not so upset, thank you. Let me know your thoughts so I can make up for it later on. -Stace


	12. Chapter 12

"Three…two…one…Happy New Year!" cheered Clint, Bruce, Kate, and various others that were at the Stark Towers New Year's Eve party.

Steve took a sip of his drink as he watched people welcome the New Year by blowing noise makers, making toasts, and kissing their significant other.

"Happy New Year, Steve," Pepper piped as she wrapped her arms around Steve and gave him a hug.

"Happy New Year, Pepper," Steve replied with less enthusiasm.

"It doesn't sound like you're having much fun," Pepper pointed out.

Steve didn't reply, he just took another sip of his drink.

"It's Alex isn't it?" Pepper asked, already knowing the answer.

"I should get going," Steve stated as he placed his drink down on the coffee table and began making his way out of the room.

"Great party by the way," Steve said, trying to be polite.

"I know it's not easy," Pepper said plainly, causing Steve to turn around.

"When Tony was held in captivity, I didn't know what to do and no one knew what had happened to him. After a while, I thought I was never going to see him again, but then one day he returned asking for a cheeseburger."

"This is different," Steve interrupted.

"No, it's not. It's personal to you, which is why you're beating yourself up about it," Pepper replied as she placed a hand on Steve's left shoulder to comfort him.

"I know that but, the day that I proposed to her, I promised her that I wouldn't let anything happen to her and now—"

"That's not your fault, Steve," Pepper pointed out. "Look— just because you haven't been able to find Alex and save her that doesn't mean that she can't save herself. She's a smart girl."

"I guess you're right," Steve sighed. "Maybe she is finding away to rescue herself, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop searching for her," he said persistently.

"I know you won't, but like I said, don't be too hard on yourself and don't blame yourself for what happened."

"Thanks, Pepper. I just hope we somehow find her soon."

* * *

><p>'Where am I?' Alex thought to herself as she woke up from her state of unconsciousness. The last thing she recalled was a burning sensation throughout her body and the familiar feeling of the cold hard examination table against her back. However, her body no longer felt like it was burning; instead, she felt warm. And the hardness of the examination table she recalled feeling was replaced with an unusual soft plush surface pressing against her back.<p>

"Alex?" she heard a familiar voice call out.

Alex turned her head and saw Annabelle sitting in the corner of her cell. She then looked down and noted that the mattress she had destroyed and stained with blood had been replaced with an air mattress.

"Annabelle? What happened?" questioned Alex. "Why are you here?"

"Are you seriously asking me this?" Annabelle scoffed. "Do you not remember stabbing yourself with your mattress spring?"

"I remember that, but I thought I would have bled out or something. Why am I here?" Alex asked as she sat up.

"You're here because I found you and brought you to the doctor."

"Did— did it work?" Alex asked afraid of finding out the answer.

"No!" Annabelle exclaimed in frustration. "What on earth were you thinking, Alex? You could have killed yourself!"

"Well, I'm going to die anyway!" Alex shouted as she balled up her hands into fists and slammed them on the concrete floor in frustration.

Annabelle gasped as she watched the floor under Alex's fists crack.

"Alex…how—how did you do that?" Annabelle stammered in a confused manner.

"What are you talking about?" Alex questioned.

"The floor—you cracked it, but how? You can't even open the jar of pickles you made me get you."

"Hey, they make those things impossible to open," Alex said defensively as she lifted her fist to examine the floor closely. She saw that aside from the cracks she had caused, she also made a circular dent about three inches deep into the floor.

'That had to be a mistake,' Alex thought to herself before she said, "Annabelle, punch the floor."

"No way! I'll break my hand if I do that."

"Annabelle, I need to test something out," Alex whined as she once again slammed her fist to the floor, creating more cracks.

"Easier there, Alex. There's no need for you to go all Hulk on me," warned Annabelle.

"I'm not Bruce," scoffed Alex.

"— but I _may_ be able to actually hold my own against him for a bit in a fight," Alex mutter as an idea began to formulate in her head.

"I can finally leave," Alex whispered.

"Alex, you can't."

"But I can," Alex smiled. "If I can break concrete floors imagine what I can do to a person. I can take down every guard and finally leave and go home."

"You don't know that for sure," Annabelle pointed out. "You don't even know where you are. How are you possibly going to find your way home?"

"I have to try!" exclaimed Alex as tears began forming in her eye. "I have to try because it's the only way I'm going to keep my son from being used for something terrible without killing him. I know that it's insane and that I shouldn't even be telling you this because you'll probably rat me out, but I don't care I'm just tired of waiting for my fiancé, who at this point, is never going to come!"

Annabelle remained silent as she watched Alex wipe away tears from her eyes. She knew that Alex was just another prisoner—she had dealt with them and their attempts to escape before, but with Alex it was different. In the two months that Alex had been there, Annabelle had made a real connection with her and the two had became good friends. But Annabelle also knew that if she allowed Alex to escape, the consequence for it would be far worse than anything Annabelle could imagine—hydra did not tolerate traitors. Annabelle's decision of whether or not to stop Alex would cause Annabelle to lose her friend or possibly her own life.

"You can't just escape, Alex," Annabelle sighed as she made her decision.

"I know I can't. I just—"

"You're going to need help," interrupted Annabelle.

"What?" Alex questioned as she raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I know you can probably get past whatever guards come your way, but that's not going to help you get off this Island."

"Wait—we're on an Island?"

"Yes, Alex, we're on a private island in the South Pacific. That's part of the reason why no one has come to rescue you," Annabelle pointed out.

'Steve would've found a way,' Alex thought bitterly. 'He finds a way to do everything else.'

"Anyway, if you want to get off this Island, you're going to need to need to break into the garage and steal a jet."

"Wait—why are you telling me all of this? Won't you get into trouble? And I don't know how to fly a jet."

"That's why I'm going with you," Annabelle stated plainly before she continued to explain her plan.

* * *

><p>Alex waited for night to fall before she began phase 1 of the plan. She listened carefully for the sound of the guard walking past her cell before letting out a painful cry.<p>

"Help," she cried out, causing the guard to stop in his tracks.

He immediately walked over to her cell door and asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Help me," Alex cried. "I think my water broke."

The guard quickly opened the cell door and rushed to Alex's side.

"Just breathe. I'm going take you to the doctor. Can you stand up?"

"I—I think so," Alex said as she breathed unevenly. "No," she grunted as she placed her hand over her stomach in pain.

"Alright, I'll help you up," the guard replied as he moved beside her to assist Alex in getting up.

As soon as he was he was behind her, Alex elbowed him in his gut and swiftly punched his nose with her fist, causing him to fall backward. Alex immediately yanked the I.D. card that every guard wore from his collar and made a break for it, locking the door behind her.

Once out of her cell, she followed Annabelle's directions and began to run in the direction of the garage. As she made a sharp turn left, she came across another guard.

"Hey, what are you—" the guard began before he was pushed to the wall. The guard stumbled a bit before reaching to his holster to pull out a tranquilizer gun. In response, Alex kicked him in the chest, sending him to the floor. Once down, she grabbed his gun and shot him causing him to lose consciousness before she continued to make her way to the garage.

As Annabelle said, there was a scanner on the garage door. She placed the guard's ID card over the scanner, and soon after, the garage doors opened. Alex entered the garage, quickly made her way to the nearest vehicle which was a car, and ducked behind it before anyone could notice her. She used the car's side-view mirrors to count the number of guards in the garage as well as note their locations. On the far left of the garage, Alex spotted Annabelle standing with another guard. In the center was one guard standing alone and to the right was another guard by the garage's control panel.

Alex let out a deep breath before she stepped out from behind the car and shot the tranquilizer gun at the guard in the center of the garage.

"What the—," uttered the guard by the control panel as he saw his fellow guard drop to the ground before Alex aimed the tranquillizer gun at the second guard causing him to drop to the floor as well.

"Hey stop!" Alex heard Annabelle call out as Alex ran towards the control panel.

"Come on, we have to stop her," said the third guard as he reached for his gun.

"No, wait," Annabelle said as she got a clear view of Alex. "You can't use your gun on her we need her alive."

"Fine," the third guard grunted as he as ran towards the control panel.

When Alex reached the control panel, she swiped the I.D card in the panel's slot and pressed a large red button. Soon after, the wall in front of her began to lift.

"Where do you think you're going?" the guard questioned as he grabbed Alex by the arm and yanked her towards him. In response, Alex kicked him in the shin causing him to release his grip on her.

"I have a ride to catch," Alex responded as she made her way to one of the planes. When she reached the door of the plane, she noticed the hand scanner on the door.

"You're not getting away that easily," Annabelle said from behind.

Alex turned around and saw her friend look as if she were about to punch her. Alex quickly blocked the fake attack and aimed for Annabelle's gut followed by her face to make it appear as if she had knocked Annabelle out.

"I need all units in the garage. We have a 1487. I repeat we have a 1487," said the guard that Alex had injured moments ago.

As the guard made his way towards her, Alex threw Annabelle over her shoulder and used her hand to open the plane door.

"Confirmation complete," said an electronic voice as the plane door opened.

As soon as she entered the jet, she placed Annabelle down and closed the door behind her. "Okay, you start the plane. I have to keep this door from being opened," Alex told Annabelle. Annabelle nodded as she rushed to the cockpit and began flipping switched to start the jet.

As Annabelle started the jet, Alex kept the inside handle of the jet door in the locked position in case another guard tried to enter

"Let me in," the guard demanded as he slammed against the plane door.

"Annabelle, hurry up," Alex said impatiently as she pressed just enough weight on the door's handle to prevent the system from opening the door.

"Give me a minute," Annabelle replied as she struggled to get the engine started. "Come on," Annabelle muttered as she once again turned the key in the ignition, causing the engines to finally start running. "Yes!" she exclaimed as the plane began moving.

When the plane began to move, Alex no longer felt the guard slamming against the plane door and made her way to the cockpit and took a seat next to Annabelle.

"I can't believe I'm finally leaving this place," Alex sighed in relief. "I can't believe—shit," Alex cursed as she saw the raised wall begin to fall. "They're trying to close us in. What are we going to do?"

"Hold onto something," Annabelle replied as she slammed her foot on the thrust lever, making it go faster.

"Come on. Make it," Annabelle repeated to herself as the plane approached the closing wall.

The plane was able to make its way out of the garage just as the wall closed, allowing the two to make their getaway.

"I can't believe we did it," rejoiced Alex as she wrapped her arms around Annabelle and gave her a hug. "After all that time, I'm free," Alex grinned.

'After all that time,' Alex thought. 'All that time and Steve still didn't save me. I had to save myself.'

"Yes, you are," Annabelle replied as she pressed a few buttons on the planes control board. "Next stop, New York Cit—"

"No," Alex interrupted.

"What do you mean, no? I thought the whole point of you breaking out was so that you can go back home to your fiancé and get married before you have a baby born out of wedlock," Annabelle joked.

"No. I broke out so that my son wouldn't be taken away from me," Alex answered.

"Alright then," Annabelle replied in confusion. "Do you at least want to call anyone? We have a radio so you can call your fiancé, your dad, your mother, or anyone."

Alex thought for a second. After all the time that passed, she wasn't sure if she wanted to see or even talk to Steve. The same went for Tony. In fact, she was perfectly content with having either of them know where she was.

'_They didn't know where I was for two months, what's another couple weeks more to them,'_ Alex though bitterly.

However, she thought about her mother and Pepper and how worried they probably were. Alex knew that there was nothing Christina or Pepper could do to save her and that she shouldn't let another day pass with them not knowing she was alright.

"No," Alex said plainly, making her decision.

"Why not? Don't you want you want to let everyone know that you're safe?"

"We're not in the clear yet," Alex stated, hiding feelings of anger she had towards Steve. "We have to land somewhere safe before we can actually be safe."

"Okay so where is it that we're going to if we're not going to New York?"

"Set the coordinates for 34 degrees north and 119 degrees west. I have somewhere else in mind to go."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:***Waits for everyone to google the location Alex is heading* Yepp, that's where Alex is going. (f.y.i almost made Alex give the UTM coordinates of the location instead of the normal coordinates people are used to because while writing this, I though of the UTM coordinates first because it was on my mapping midterm).

Anyway thank you for reading the (arguably) longest chapter I've ever written for any piece of fiction. I say arguably because I did once write a chapter for my friend, kim, Draco fic and that was pretty long. Speaking of my friend, I want to give her a **huge** shout out. A lot of people have been complimenting me on my writing and my ideas and I want to take this time to say once again that if it weren't for kim, I wouldn't be writing now. She had an evil plot bunny that had to do with my character and told me about it and I really liked it because it was different from the fluffy stuff I usually write, so she helped me plan out the first couple of chapters so I could get started and she continues to help me. Before I post anything, she actually proof reads every chapter I've written and makes comments about things I can improve on and things I need to fix because they weren't consistent (like how strong Alex and how much damage she is able to do to a person). So thank you kim and thank you to everyone that likes this fic.

Please let me know your thought and reactions to this chapter and did anyone see Captain America 2 yet? -stace


	13. Chapter 13

"So, what's in Malibu?" Annabelle began as she saw rocky cliffs coming into view. "Do you have a secret sugar daddy that is going to take care of you?" Annabelle joked after she received no response from Alex.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Alex scoffed. "Why would I need some middle-aged sugar daddy when my fiancé is a fossil?"

"Finally, you say something!" Annabelle chortled, causing Alex to roll her eyes.

"I've been quiet because I'm trying to think of a way to get in without anyone finding out," Alex sighed as she fiddled with one of Annabelle's knives.

"Get into where?" Annabelle asked in confusion.

"There," Alex replied as she pointed to large white mansion sitting on the edge of a cliff.

Annabelle's eyes widened at the sight of it and said, "Alex, please tell me that you know the person that lives in there because I already helped you break out of somewhere, I'm not about to help you break into some random millionaire's—"

"It's my dad's place," Alex interrupted. "Millionaire: yes. Random Stranger: no. Don't worry, he won't mind if we crash at his place for a while."

"I don't understand," Annabelle said in confusion. "If we're going to your dad's place, then why do you have to break in?"

"Because one: he's in New York. And two: I don't want him to know I'm here."

"But Alex, you're dad can—"

"It's better that he or anybody else doesn't know that I'm here...at least for now," Alex replied.

As the jet approached closer to the mansion, Alex made up her mind as to how she and Annabelle were going to get in. "Okay, you can land her on the lawn and then wait five minutes before following me."

"Seriously? The lawn? You don't want to maybe be a little more discrete?"

"Just do it," Alex sighed as she used the knife to slash her leg, wincing slightly at the pain.

"Alex, what the hell?"

"Just do it," repeated Alex.

Annabelle listened to Alex and as soon as the jet landed in the lawn, Alex opened the jet's door, exited the jet, and began to slowly make her way to the front of the mansion.

As Alex approached the entrance, she heard a familiar voice say, "I'm sorry, but residents of this house are not—"

"Jarvis, it's Alex, let me in," Alex pleaded as she clamped her hand over the bleeding gash she had created moments ago.

Recognizing her voice, Jarvis granted her entrance before he asked, "Miss. Alex, what happened to your leg? Where have you been?"

"I was imprisoned somewhere," Alex replied as she walked over to the security panel on the side of the wall. I' was able to escape, but I got injured pretty badly and I'm afraid they might try to track me," Alex continued as she began to enter a series of codes on to the screen.

"Do you need medical attention, Miss Alex? I can get an ambulance here if you need one as well as inform your father about your whereabouts."

"That won't be necessary, Jarvis," Alex stated as she finished entering the code.

"Operating System, rebooting," echoed a robotic voice.

Alex let out a sigh of relief before turning her attention to her wounded leg and thought, 'Better get that cleaned up.'

"Alex?" she heard Annabelle say as Annabelle knocked on the door. "Did your plan work?" Annabelle questioned.

Alex opened the front door and told Annabelle, "Of course it worked. Why wouldn't it?"

"Well you said it was a break in, yet you made me land the jet on the lawn. And you made your leg bleed right before you entered an empty house—that didn't seem like much of a plan to me," Annabelle pointed out. "Why didn't you just go all James Bond and break in like a normal person?"

"Well it worked and I doubt I can do any James Bond sneaking around with a baby bump," Alex said in defense as she closed the door and made her way towards a set of stairs.

"So what exactly is it that you did?"

"Well, I'm making us invisible to my dad's system, Jarvis, by rebooting it and putting it on a temporal loop," Alex explained. "So whatever happened in the last twenty four hours, Jarvis will think it's still happening so we can do whatever we want here without anyone even knowing that we're here."

"How did you learn to do that?" Annabelle asked in amazement.

"I figured out how to do it one weekend when I had the place to myself. I was able to throw an awesome party thanks to that," Alex replied nonchalantly. "Anyway, I'm going to order some pizza after I clean this wound and change clothes. I'll show you around when I'm done, but if you need to wash up, I'd suggest using the bathroom right up these stairs to the left. Make yourself comfortable and let me know if you need—"

"Alex, I can't stay here," Annabelle interrupted.

"What do you mean?" questioned Alex as she stopped in her tracks and faced Annabelle.

"I mean that I have to go. I can't stay with you. If anyone from Hyrda finds us— I'm dead."

"They won't find us. There's no way that they can."

"I'm not going to take that chance. Besides, if you're with me, it will be easier for them to find you and after everything that you did in order to escape, I'm not going to let that happen. I'm assuming you don't need the jet anymore."

"No I don't, but—where are you going to go?" Alex asked as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Don't worry about me," Annabelle began as she wrapped her arms around Alex and pulled her into a hug. "Worry about your kid. Make sure he's safe, and loved, and taken care of. Okay?"

"I will," Alex responded as she held back a sob.

"Goodbye, Alex," Annabelle said as she released her grip on Alex and began making her way out of the mansion.

"Bye, Annabelle," Alex replied as she watched her friend leave. As the door closed, Alex thought about how the people she cared about kept disappointing her. First it was Steve who hadn't come to her rescue, and then it was Tony who wasn't able to find her. Now it was her friend Annabelle who flat out left her.

"I guess it's just you and me, squishy," Alex whispered as her hand grazed over the growing bump on her stomach.

* * *

><p>"Find anything new?" Natasha asked as she entered Tony's lab.<p>

"No," Steve replied.

"Not really," Tony sighed. "I've been going through the same information for weeks, but have been getting nowhere."

"Well, I've got something for you," Natasha stated as she took out a USB drive from her pocket and inserted in the port. A few moments later, images of Tony's mansion in Malibu appeared on the screen.

"What is that?" Steve asked in confusion.

"Those are pictures of my house. Why are you showing me this?" Tony questioned.

"Well a few days ago, this aircraft landed in your front lawn and a satellite image of a woman entering the vicinity was taken," Natasha explained as she zoomed into the image.

"Jarvis, why was I not informed of this?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I have no such information of this on my data," responded Jarvis.

"Alex?" Steve asked with a hint of hope in his voice. "Alex could have hacked Jarvis and erased any proof of her being there."

"Why would she do that?" Tony questioned. "And besides, Alex has brown hair. The woman's hair in the photo is black."

"And she also left within a few hours after landing," Natasha said as she showed the two photos taken after that had no jet. "If it were Alex, she would have showed up in New York a few hours later, but that's not the case."

"Well whoever this person is, I'm going to find out why they were at my house and what they did there."

"I'm coming with you, Tony," Steve declared.

"I don't need your help, Cap. Besides, I thought you were going to use your spare time trying to find Alex."

"We haven't had any new leads in weeks and suddenly this happens," Steve pointed out. "Look— it may have something to do with her or it may not, but I'm going to find out for myself."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Finally, Steve and Alex are going to reunite...but Alex seems kind of upset so I wonder how that's going to work out... :|


	14. Chapter 14

"Die you bastards— die!" Alex yelled as she violently pressed the buttons on her controller, but not so much so as to break her controller—again, to shoot rapid fire on her enemies. "Yeah, suck it –wait, who's shooting at me," Alex grunted in frustration as her screen appeared momentarily red indicating that she had been attacked. Alex navigated her avatar so that she could see her attacker fleeing. "Oh, no, you don't," she uttered as she threw a grenade in his direction. As she continued to play her game, an alert popped up on her screen notifying her that there was someone at the door.

"That must be the pizza man," Alex said to herself as she paused the game and got off of her bed. Just as she had grabbed the wad of money she left on top of her dresser, the sound of a small explosion could be heard from outside her room.

'_That's not the pizza guy_,' Alex thought as she immediately dropped the cash and feared the worst. She then quietly approached the bedroom door, opened it, and listened for a sound from whatever or whoever caused the explosion. It was relatively silent, but she was able to faintly hear the sounds of two men, arguing, coming from the floor below.

'_Could someone from Hydra have found me?'_ thought Alex as she instinctively placed her hands over her stomach. She clenched her fist in anger before she walked over to her dresser and pulled out a plasma gun from one of her drawers and whispered, "I'm not letting them take you away from me."

* * *

><p>"What do you got there, Cap?" Tony asked as he flew over his mansion to do an aerial sweep of the place.<p>

"I did sweep of the perimeter and heard a commotion going on the upper level above the lounge," Steve replied as he attempted to break through the bulletproof glass that was Tony Stark's living room window.

"Alright, Cap, are you ready to go in?" Tony began as he flew to Steve's location and raised his arm ready to attack. "Stand back."

In that moment, Steve dove to his right as Tony blasted his own window causing it to shatter and smoke to form. Once the smoke had cleared, Tony entered the facility with Steve following him.

"Gee, Tony, could you be more conspicuous?" Steve asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Well what was I supposed to do, Steve? Knock on the door?" Tony countered as he began to scan the living room for evidence of someone entering. "There by the door," Tony said as his eye spotted a piece of paper near the entrance of the house.

Steve turned his head to the entrance and also spotted the paper before he made his way towards it.

"It might have code a written on it that explains how this person broke in or a message of some sort –"

"Or it could be a Domino's menu," interrupted Steve after he picked up the paper and read it.

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would someone—"

Right then, a blow to Tony's chest interrupted him and sent him flying across the room.

In response, Steve raised his shield slightly up in defense before he called out, "Show yourself."

Standing at the top of the stairs, Steve saw a woman with long brown hair and a round stomach indicating that she was with child.

"Alex…" Steve uttered in confusion. "Is that really you?"

* * *

><p>Alex quietly made her way down the hall to a set of stairs that would lead her to the lounge. She took a quick glance at who was downstairs and saw two men standing by the doorway. She leaned against the corner wall and took a deep breath before she took a quick step forward and shot the plasma gun at one of the men. After she pulled the trigger, she immediately ducked back into the corner hidden.<p>

As she stayed hidden, she heard the sound of a familiar voice exclaim, "Show yourself." It was the same voice that she recalled telling her to get down when a Russian arms dealer tried to attack her two years ago. A voice that, for a split second, made her want to run toward it. However, when she stepped out of the dark corner so that she could see him, the look of disbelief on her fiancé's face, coupled with the confusion in his voice as he uttered the words, "Alex…is that really you?" turned her desire to go to him into anger and bitterness.

"Yes it's me," Alex replied as she aimed her gun at his lower torso, knowing that he could easily block her attack with his shield.

"You asshat," Alex yelled just as she pulled the trigger, sending a plasma blast that Steve immediately blocked.

"Alex, stop; it's me, Steve," Steve said as he held his shield up in defense as Alex continued to shoot at him.

"I know it's you," Alex began as she made her way down that stairs. "Where have you been the last two months? Huh? Playing super hero while I was imprisoned somewhere?" Alex stated as she noted his Captain America outfit.

"Alex," Tony said causing Alex to stop her attack on Steve. "You're alright."

"Yeah— No thanks to you," Alex scoffed.

"Alex, let me explain. Tony and I—"

"I don't need an explanation," Alex interrupted. "I was kidnapped and in two months neither of you rescued me. I had to save myself before—" Alex rambled, pausing at the thought of her child being taken away from her.

"Alex, we're sorry," Tony and Steve apologized. "We—"

"No!" Alex shouted in frustration. "You," she said as she pointed at Tony. "You let me down a million times so I expect this from you, but you," she continued as she turned her attention to Steve. "You promised me that you wouldn't let anything happen to me, but something did; and it wasn't your fault and I forgive you for that, but I was imprisoned for two months wondering when you were going to come and get me and you never did—never," Alex spat.

"But Alex, please listen to me," Steve begged. "I tried to—"

"Well, you didn't try hard enough," Alex stated simply.

"Okay, so according to you, we didn't try hard enough to find you?" Tony sighed. "But did you even bother finding us once you were out of wherever you were," Tony asked a bit angered from Alex's rant. "Do you even know why we're here, Alex? We're here because Natasha showed us photos of a plane that landed right outside this house and a woman exiting the house. We had no clue what she was doing here or who she was, so we came over to find out and we discover you."

"So your house is more important than the well being of your own daughter?" Alex scoffed.

"Well—"

Tony was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the front door.

"Just a second, Cody!" Alex exclaimed as she dropped her gun on the floor and made her way back up the stairs.

"Who's Cody?" Tony gestured to Steve who shook his head in confusion as a response.

Alex returned down the stairs with a wad of cash in her hand and made her way to the front door.

"Hi, Cody," Alex greeted as she opened the front door.

"Hi, Alex, here's your order," Cody replied.

"Great, can you just bring it inside for me? I'll grab the sodas."

Cody entered the house and began making his way to the island to right of the entrance so he could place the ten boxes of pizza on top of it, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Captain America and Iron Man standing in the middle of the room.

"Umm…"Cody uttered in confusion.

"Don't pay them any mind," Alex instructed as she set the bottles of soda on top of the island. "In fact," Alex said as she counted out a hundred dollars in twenties from her wad of cash and handed it to him, "don't say anything to anyone."

"But the pizza costs $107.25," Cody pointed out.

"I know," Alex replied before counting $108 and handing it to him. "That was your tip."

"Okay then," Cody said awkwardly as he began to exit the mansion. "Have a good day."

"Wait—let me get this straight. You're nice to pizza boy, but not to your own father?" Tony asked in confusion.

"His name is Cody. And yes I am because I can count on him to bring me pizza and he hasn't let me down yet," Alex mumbled as she took a large bit of pizza.

"Okay, well, Cody might be the one to bring you pizza, but he won't be the one to bring you back to New York," Tony remarked.

"Of course he wouldn't. I'm not going back to New York. That's the first place they'd try to find me," Alex replied as she took yet another bite out of her pizza.

"Who are they?" Steve questioned.

Alex swallowed the bite of pizza she had in her mouth before she responded with the word, "Hydra."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** *insert drama* Why is Alex being such a dick? I mean I know she's sarcastic, but damn Alex: I don't know maybe it's pregnancy hormones did you ever think of that? *takes a bit of pizza* Me: no, that's what make you eat five pizza pies a day. they're actually a more complicated reason as to why you're being a dick, but let's save that for later.

Anyway, I made a gallery of gifs and photos of Steve and Alex and all things related to this fic that I'm organizing, but link is available on my profile now if you want to check it out. As always your thoughts and comments are much appreciated -Stace


	15. Chapter 15

"Hydra?" Steve asked in confusion. "You mean—"

"The evil organization led by Voldemort 's twin that's obsessed with making an army of Captain Americas minus the goody two-shoes act?" Alex replied.

"How is that even possible?" Steve questioned. "Red Skull is dead. I saw him burn."

"Well, apparently he didn't die," Alex pointed out as she opened a bottle of coke and began to chug it.

"But that doesn't make any sense. The woman that Steve interrogated said that the reason why you were taken was because someone wanted your child. What would Red Skull want with an infant? He's not exactly father material and babies and armies don't go well together," Tony stated.

"Well I don't know what his entire plan was, but he said that a child with the genetic make-up of a super human could be used to create more super humans so maybe gene splicing or something."

"Alex, you were there for two months, how could you not know this?" Tony asked.

"Because, dad, I was their prisoner—their freaking guinea pig. They did a bunch of tests on me and squishy for reasons I don't know. I wasn't there to get answers; I was just their thing to probe and poke at!" Alex ranted in frustration.

As Steve listened to Alex ramble, a surge of guilt panged him. He could only imagine the sort of things Hydra members did to Alex and, even worse, knowing her sarcastic and sometimes stubborn nature, the sorts of consequences she faced when she did not cooperate with them.

His overwhelming guilt compelled him to say, "Alex, I'm sorry for everything: for whatever Hydra did and for not finding you earlier. And I understand that you're mad at us; you have every right to be, but all that matters to me right now is that you and the baby are safe and that no one harmed either of you two."

Just as Alex's words caused guilt to fill Steve, Steve's words had the same affect on Alex as she recalled a few nights ago when she felt so hopeless about her situation that she attempted to kill her and Steve's child. Alex, who up to this point had always had a witty and sarcastic remark, remained silent.

"Alex," Steve began as he noted her silence. "Are you okay? What did they do to you?"

"Nothing," Alex responded immediately trying to shake off that memory. "I'm fine. It was nothing I couldn't handle."

"And the baby?"

"The baby is fine. We're both safe and sounds—no thanks to you two," Alex remarked. "No if you'll excuse me," Alex began as she grabbed a box of pizza and made her way towards the stairs.

"Alex, what are you doing?" Tony asked.

"Well before you two decided to break the living room window, I was play video games and now I have pizza so—"

"Oh, no you're not; you're coming back to New York with us," Tony interrupted. "If Hydra's going to come after you like you said they might, then you need to be safe and right now; the safest place is at home where we can keep an eye on you."

"I already told you, I'm not going to New York. Besides, I already escaped on my own I'm pretty sure I can protect myself. I don't need you two. I have everything I need here, "Alex spat as she continued to make her way upstairs.

"What about your mom? And Pepper?" Steve questioned.

Stopping in her tracks at the mention of the two, Alex asked, "What about them?"

"You said that you wanted them to be there when the baby was born and I'm sure that they would love to see you after being missing for so long."

Alex recalled her desire to see her mother and Pepper right after stealing the jet with Annabelle, but decided against it for not wanting to see her father or Steve. Now that the two were here , there was no avoiding them and the thought of being able to see and spend time with Christina and Pepper made her want to go.

"Fine," Alex agreed. "I'll go with you two. Just let me change," Alex said before she silently made her way to her room.

"I can't believe that worked. How did you know that bringing up Pepper and Christina would convince her to come?" Tony questioned.

"I noticed, after you tried reasoning with her, that Alex seemed to be responding on an emotional level rather than on a logical one. So I thought that bringing up her mom or Pepper would help our cause," Steve explained.

"Well that was good call."

"Did Alex seem different to you?" Steve asked. "She seemed really mad, which I understand, but it felt like she was attacking us when she talked about how we let her down. I mean, I know she can be sarcastic and blunt at times, but I've never seen her act that way."

"It's probably just her pregnancy hormones," Tony pointed out. "She's mad at you now, but to give her time, she'll warm up to you soon; and then she'll be able to be mad at you for some other reason."

"I hope you're right," Steve sighed.

* * *

><p>"I'm so glad you're safe!" Christina exclaimed over Skype.<p>

"I know, mom," Alex replied as she lowered the volume on her laptop. "You've said that a million times," Alex giggled as she watched her mother wipe away tears that had begun to form.

"Well, I am. I was worried about you, sweetie."

"Mom, you're always worried about me," Alex joked.

"Well, I'm a mom; it's my job to worry about you even when you're all grown up and having a kid of your own. Speaking of which, how is the baby? Have you seen a doctor since you've gotten back?" Christina asked concerned.

"No I haven't visited a doctor yet, but the baby is fine. He's kicking and keeping me up at night," Alex replied.

"He?" Christina questioned.

"Yes, I said 'he'. I'm having a boy," Alex grinned.

"Oh my God, I'm having a grandson!" Christina squealed in excitement. "Who else knows?"

"Well, I told Pepper when I first got here—after all the tears and hug. She's the only other person that knows," Alex answered.

"Wait— you didn't tell Steve? Why not?"

"It didn't come up in the three barely conversations we've had in the last two days," defended Alex.

"Alex," Christina scorned. "I know you're mad at him, but he deserves to know these things."

"I know, but—" Alex stopped mid sentence when she heard a beeping sound coming from her mother's end of the call

"Shit," Christina mumbled. "I have to get back to work. Sorry, honey."

"It's okay, mom. I'll talk to you later. I love you."

"Okay. I love you too, Alex and promise me that you'll tell Steve."

"I will," Alex responded as the call ended and she closed her laptop, placing it on top of the coffee table, grabbing her game controller in the process. "Eventually," she sighed as she resumed the game she was playing earlier.

"What is that you have to tell me?" asked a familiar voice.

Alex paused her game and turned her head to see Steve standing in the entrance on the common lounge with a bag of McDonalds. Steve approached her and handed her the bag as he took a seat next to her on the coach. Alex hesitatively opened the bag to reveal two orders of large French fries that she had been craving earlier.

"How did you—"

"I heard you muttering something about fries while you were taking a nap earlier," Steve replied nonchalantly. "So I thought that I should get you some."

"Well, thank you," Alex said before she took a fry and put it in her mouth and swallowing it. "But if this is a bribe, it's not going to work."

"Would pizza have worked better?" Steve joked, earning him a glare from Alex. "So what is it that you have to tell me?" Steve asked once again.

Alex let out a long sigh as she debated whether or not to tell him now. 'I guess I might as well,' Alex thought. Just as she was about to tell Steve, another person, loudly entering the room, interrupted her.

"Alex! I knew I'd find you here," boomed Clint as he sauntered into the room carrying a white bag with him.

"What do you want, Clint?" Alex sighed.

"Well, after that less than friendly greeting yesterday, I figured that you were mad for some reason or another, so I came bearing gifts," Clint explained.

"Nice try. Steve already tried to bribe me and it didn't work," Alex said bitterly.

"Well, then I guess I'll have to keep all these new games I just bought that may or may not be the games you've been waiting for to be released," said Clint as he began to slowly walk away.

"Wait!" Alex called out causing Clint to pause.

He grinned knowing that his plan had worked.

"What games did you buy?" Alex asked curiously.

"Why don't take a look for yourself," Clint replied as he handed her the bag.

When Alex opened the bag, her eyes widened in amazement as she saw the new Assassin's Creed, Super Smash Bros 5, and a couple of Infinity figurines that she hadn't had yet. "Forget what I said earlier, I'll take a bribe."

"I knew you would," Clint stated cockily. "So what do you want to play first?"

"Well right now, the baby's pushing on my bladder, so I have to go pee, but you set up Super Smash Bros and get ready to have your ass handed to you," Alex remarked as she got off the couch and left the room.

"I should probably go," Steve announced as she got up from the couch.

"Why? Stay here. Play some games with us. Have fun," Clint said as he inserted the disk into the game consul.

"I don't think Alex really wants me here. Things haven't been going so well between us ever since she got back," Steve sighed.

"All the more reason to stay and play with us," Clint replied.

"How?"

"Well, Alex is mad at you, so you have to give her time to warm up to you and playing video games with her is one of the fastest ways she'll warm up to you—it worked for me," Clint explained.

"Yes, but you weren't the one that let her down like I did. It's going to take a lot more than bringing her food and playing video games to make it up to her."

"Well, it's not like you have this grand gesture that will make Alex forgive you, so for now do all the little things that you know she likes."

"I'm back!" Alex announced as she entered the room and resumed her position in the middle of couch.

"Took you long enough, Steve and I were about to start without you."

"Oh, Steve's playing too?"

"Yeah, you don't mind do you? I mean we all usually play together anyway," Clint pointed out.

"No," Alex sighed. "It's fine. Now I have two people whose ass I'm going to kick."

Steve mouthed a 'thank you' to Clint as Alex decided on her character to which Clint responded with a 'don't worry'. As the three played the game, Steve noticed that Alex always attacked his character first; Steve frowned and decided make a mental list of the things he could do for Alex.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:Hope you guys enjoyed! Let mew know how you felt/what you thought. Fair warning, I'm coming close to the end of my spring semester so I might not update for two weeks because of studying and term projects. For all my college students feeling the pressure like I am, be strong! -stace**


	16. Chapter 16

"No, wait!Go up! Go up!" Steve pleaded as he attempted his save his Fox from falling after Alex had used Ike to knock him off the screen. "Damn it," Steve muttered.

"Oh, well," Alex stated plainly as she began attacking Clint's Link. "Better luck time."

"Alex, that was so unfair. That's like the tenth time you blatantly attacked Steve," Clint said as he dodged Alex's attacks and proceeded in shooting her character with arrows.

"That's the whole point of the game. One by one, you kill off the ones that didn't really have what it takes. There are only three of us playing and Steve just so happened to be that person," Alex pointed out as she failed to block Clint's attacks. "Fuck," she mumbled in frustration.

"It looks like that battle strategy isn't in your favor," Steve commented as he watched Alex struggle. "Team work is one of the best strategies. If you didn't kill me off, I could have helped you defeat Clint."

"Yes, but in the end, there's only one winner and you can't count on your teammate to bring you to victory; you can only count on yourself," Alex countered. "Besides, even if we did decide to team up, how would I know that you weren't just going to let me down?" Alex questioned as she pressed harder the buttons on the controller out of frustration.

"Alex, look, I know you're mad at me because of everything that happened, but I promise you I won't let something like that happen again," explained Steve.

"Why are you even bringing that up?" Alex scoffed. "I'm talking about a game here, but if you want to dwell on what happened because you feel guilty about it, then be my guest."

"Yeah, Alex, we both totally believe that. Your whole conversation with your baby daddy up to this point hasn't secretly been about how mad you are at him," Clint said sarcastically as he knocked out Alex's character off the screen, leaving her with one life left.

"Shut up, Clint! No one asked you," Alex shouted as she tightened her grip on the controller and tried to attack Clint's character.

"But I'm right. Am I not?"

"I said shut up," Alex repeated as she clutched her controller tighter until her grip caused the controller to break in her hands. "Damnit, not again," Alex muttered to herself as Clint's and Steve's eyes widened in shock.

"Clint, give me your controller," Alex demanded. "I need to kick Steve's ass again."

"Do you mean in the game–or are you actually going to beat him with it because I don't condone...let's call it domestic abuse," Clint responded.

"Steve is six foot three and weighs 220 pounds. Even with the training the two of you gave me, if I were to hit Steve, it would be like a mosquito bite," Alex stated bluntly.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course I am," Alex began, stopping mid-sentence when she realized what she had done.

_'Crap,'_ she thought. _'Now they're going to want to know when I got so strong and what happened to me and how I escaped—gaah! I really don't want to have that conversation.'_

"You were saying?" Clint continued.

"I said I'm sure. Gosh, you people don't listen," Alex scoffed as she turned her attention to the screen and began scrolling through characters to battle with.

"Alex, you just broke a controller. How on earth were you able to do that?"

Steve asked confused.

"I dropped that controller a million times, it was bound to break eventually," Alex deflected as she kept her eyes locked on the screen in front of her, not daring to look Steve's way.

"You've thrown controllers across the room every time I beat you in a game and they still haven't broken," Clint pointed out. "What?Are you on steroids or something?"

"Clint, I have a baby. Why would I take steroids or anything else for that matter?"

"Did they do something to you?" Steve asked with concern in his voice.

"What are you talking about?" Alex responded as she continued to ignore Steve's gaze.

"Red Skull. Did he or anyone from hydra give you something to make you like this? You said they did tests on you, but you never went into detail. Is this what they did to you?"

"I don't know," Alex mumbled, paying Steve no mind.

"Alex, look at me and tell me the truth," Steve begged.

"I said I don't know," Alex replied as she turned to face Steve. "There. Are you happy?"

"How do you not know what they were doing to you?" inquired Clint.

"I was their prisoner as in they did whatever they wanted and withheld information from me. Hell, I didn't even know I was having a boy until one of the guards spilled the beans."

"Wait—we're having a boy?" Steve asked astonished. "Why didn't you tell me? I know you were mad at me, but don't think you think you should have told something that important to me?"

"Okay, one: I'm still mad at you and two: it never came up in our conversations," Alex explained.

"What conversations? You've ignored me the last two days and the only times you did talk to me were to ask what was in the fridge"

"Guys, enough," Clint interjected. "You can talk about your relationship issues later. Alex, if they didn't tell you what they were doing to you, then how did you find out?"

"I just woke up one morning pissed off and found out that I could break walls," Alex responded. "It was basically part of my everyday routine: whine, complain, punch walls out of frustration, and trying to figure a way out. I just got really lucky one day after they, apparently, decided to try to make me stronger for reasons unknown and used that to escape," Alex half lied. She wasn't completely sure as to why the hydra doctors decided to give her what she assumed was a failed super solider serum they created, but she did theorize that it had something to do with them trying to save her child. Of course, Alex wasn't about to explain her theory to them because that would mean her revealing to them her shame in a desperate moment.

"Have you seen a doctor?" Steve asked.

"No," Alex began. "I mean—I was going to see one in California to make sure the baby was okay, but then I ended up coming back to New York. It's fine though, I'm twenty-two weeks, so I only need to see a doctor once a month."

"I didn't mean for the baby. I meant for you. Alex, hydra is known for their attempts in producing a super-solider serum and most of the time, what they create has harmful side effects," explained Steve. "Now, I know you seem alright for now, but I think you should see one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s doctors. They'll be able to find out what the hydra doctors did to you and if it posses any threat to you or the baby."

"No. I'm not going to S.H.I.E.L.D. to get poked with needles! Not only did you not do anything to save me, I don't think they did either—and they have eyes and ears all over the world."

"Alex, that's not true. If it wasn't for S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony and I would have never found out about that women and the jet in Malibu and I would have never found you."

"Speaking of which, who was that woman?" asked Clint. Steve turned his attention to Clint for a second and gave him a questioning look before Clint responded, "Nat filled me in."

"She's someone who I can count on," Alex said in a condescending voice. "She was a guard that helped me escape after I found out I was strong," Alex explained.

"Why would she do that? She's Hydra?"

"Just because she's an ex-Hydra member doesn't mean she's bad just like not all S.H.I.E.L.D. members can't rise to the occasion. I can name at least one," Alex spat.

"Will you stop throwing that in my face, Alex," Steve replied with a hint of frustration in his voice.

"I'm not doing anything, but if the shoe fits—wear it," Alex scoffed as she began to make her way out of the room. "And I'm not going to see a S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor. I'll see my regular doctor."

"You mean the doctor who ratted you out to Hydra in the first place?" spoke Steve.

"What are you talking about?" Alex questioned as she raised an eyebrow in suspicion. She had known Dr. Parker for quite some time and she knew how serious the clinic took patient confidentiality, but she also knew that Steve would never lie to her, so she wasn't sure what to believe.

"Although I was never able to find you, I was able to track down one of the people involved in your kidnapping. After much interrogation, I found out the reason why you were kidnapped was because someone wanted our baby and the only person who knew about him, besides the two of us, was Dr. Parker," explained Steve. "Look Alex, I know you're mad about a lot of things, but I'm all I'm asking is for you to do this one thing. Not for me, but for the baby. Please, let a S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor take a look at you to make sure everything is okay."

Alex gave Steve a long hard look and noticed how genuinely concerned he was. "Okay, fine," she sighed. "But don't think this changes anything. Like you said, I'm doing this for the baby, not for you; and afterwards I'm going to find a new doctor."

"I understand," Steve responded as he watched Alex exit the room.

"You know she's lying, right?" hinted Clint.

"Lying about what?"

"Lying about things not changing," Clint began. "She doesn't know it yet, but she's slowly warming up to you. I saw the way she looked at you and she knows that you care."

"Of course I care."

"Good. Now just make sure you show her that you do."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Wow...that was the longest break that I've taken from writing ever. Hi guys, I'm back and hopefully I'm sticking around. I know last time I said I was taking a break because of final projects and tests, but shortly after it escalated to more than that. I started working earlier than anticipated, my supervisor had a baby, my sister graduated, and I almost went to the ER so yeah...at least I have a good reason for not writing. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter; I'm trying to gear everything coming towards a mix of angst and fluff and I promise to update every 7 to 10 days (I'm still really busy so don't be mad at me). -Stace


	17. Chapter 17

"Damn it," Alex mutter as she searched her drawers, occasionally tossing aside a pair of pajama bottoms and added to the pile of clothes she had on the floor. "Where the hell are my leggings?" Alex exclaimed in frustration.

"I put them to wash," replied Steve as he entered their shared bedroom and made his way to dresser.

"Why would you do that?" Alex questioned slightly annoyed.

"Because you've been wearing nothing but leggings since you got back. They needed to be washed."

"But now I have nothing to wear to go to sleep!" Alex shouted. "I've been wearing leggings because that's the only thing I have that fits me. My jeans are too tight and my pajama bottoms leave marks that bother me."

Steve was taken aback from her sudden outburst, but he did not lose his composure as he suggested, "How about you borrow a pair of my sweat pants?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea," Alex stated sarcastically. "And while you're at it, you can get me some chains and a cap so I can look like those guys that walk around with their pants falling down."

"Alex, I'm sure I have something that will fit you," Steve replied firmly. "Besides, your waist is bigger now so-"

"Are you trying to call me fat?" Alex interrupted defensively.

"No, no. Not at all. I—um. I just meant that," Steve began, stumbling on his words, "I just meant that since junior, here, has gotten big you might be able to fit into some of my clothes."

"Squishy," Alex corrected.

"What?"

"His name is squishy," explained Alex. "At least that's what I'm calling him for now."

"Okay then, Squishy's gotten a lot bigger," Steve continued as he grabbed a pair of sweat pants from his bottom drawer. "Here you go."

Alex glared at Steve as she took the pants from him and made her way to the bathroom in order to try on the pants.

"So?" Steve asked through the bathroom door. "How do they fit?"

"They fit okay," answered Alex as she adjusted the string on the pants to fit her better. "You know you have really narrow hips compared to your shoulders and chest," she sneered.

"I know," Steve smiled knowing that Alex's attempt at an insult was a sign of her opening up to him. "I'm like a pizza that way," Steve joked as he let out a soft chuckle expecting Alex to do the same, however, this was not the case.

Instead of hearing a half hearted 'ha', Steve heard the sound of Alex's footsteps stomping towards him.

"No!" Alex exclaimed as she flung open the bathroom door. "Why would you say that? Don't compare yourself to pizza. Pizza is beautiful and I love it and you—well." Alex stopped mid-sentence when she almost said the words 'I hate you' which, she knew in her heart, was not true. Yes, she was mad at Steve, as well as hurt and disappointed by him, but that didn't mean that she hated him.

"I'm sorry, Alex. It was just a joke."

"Well, don't joke about something sacred like pizza. Joke about some other triangular food that I don't like."

"You mean like Doritos?" asked Steve.

"You _know_ I like Doritos," Alex countered as she narrowed her eyes slightly to glare at him.

"Not the ones that come in the purple bag," Steve pointed out. "What kind were those?"

"Eww. You mean the spicy sweet chili? Those are gross," Alex gagged.

"Okay then, it's settled; I'm a spicy sweet chili Dorito," Steve grinned.

"I don't know what you're grinning about. You're triangular shaped and you leave a bad taste in my mouth," Alex scoffed knowing that half of her statement was a lie since every time he had kissed her he had left far from a bad taste in her mouth.

_'Damn it,'_ Alex thought. _'Now I'm thinking about his lips and how much of a good kisser he is.'_

"It could be worse," Steve replied as he grabbed a shirt from his drawer. "Are you going to sleep on the couch again?" Steve asked, changing the topic.

"What other option do I have?"

"You can sleep on our bed," Steve suggested.

"You'd like that wouldn't you," Alex said sarcastically. "Me asleep trying to snuggle against something and you taking the opportunity to wrap your arms around me and squeeze my butt a little because I know you do that."

_'Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Fuck. Now I wish I wasn't mad at him for the sole purpose of getting felt up and making out. Damn you, hormones!'_

"Okay then," Steve began awkwardly, "I'll sleep on the couch so that you can sleep on the bed."

"And how do I know you won't try to sneak into the bed in the middle of the night and wake up before me?" Alex questioned as she stared down Steve with an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

Steve said nothing as he looked Alex straight in the eyes; his piercing blue eyes locking with her hazel ones.

_'God damn it, Steve, just kiss me already,'_ Alex thought.

"Because you wake up every few hours to use the bathroom and would literally kick me off the bed if you found me there which is something I'd prefer to avoid considering how strong you are now," Steve replied.

"Fair enough. Okay, I'll take the bed. You can have the couch."

"Great. Good night, Alex," Alex replied as he exited the room.

"Yeah, whatever. Good night," Alex scoffed as she paid him no mind. However, when she was sure that he wasn't looking, Alex watched as Steve walked away, paying close attention to his bottom half.

Alex sighed quietly to herself.

_'Well I can't be mad at him and want him at the same time,'_ Alex thought as she made her way to her side of the bed. _'It's best that I just ignore my desire to jump on him because if I do that then he's going to think I forgive him and there's no way in hell that I'm going to forgive him that easily.'_

"What do you think, Squishy? Should I forgive your dad?" Alex whispered as she placed a hand over the bump on her stomach. Alex waited for a kick from her unborn child to indicate that she should forgive Steve and let go any negative feelings she harbored towards him, but she felt nothing.

"Alright, then," Alex sighed as she turned so that she was laying on her side. "He'll just have to make it up to me some other way—that bastard."

Steve, who was making his way back to their room to get a pillow, overheard Alex and frowned when he heard her call him a bastard.

'Wow. I guess being captured by Hydra really changed Alex,' Steve thought as he recalled other times Alex was mad. She would call people jerks and him a jerkface, but she would never call him a bastard.

"Good night, Squishy," Alex said as she reached for the lamp and flicked the switch to turn it off. "Mommy loves you."

'Or maybe not,' thought Steve after seeing Alex's softer side. Yes, he knew that making Alex show her softer side with him would be difficult, but he knew that it wasn't impossible.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **My grammar is getting better! Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed that little fluffy/tension chapter there's going to a lot more of them (or less if you guys hated it). I felt like this chapter was short but it was cute I liked it, let me know what you guys thought about it-Stace


	18. Chapter 18

Alex had fallen asleep with pleasant thoughts of warmer days, central park picnics, and, of course,of what she imagined her son would be like. As she imagined swinging the child on a set of park swings, she smiled in her sleep and uttered 'Mommy's got you baby. She won't let anything happen to you.'

"Oh, really?" Alex overheard someone say.

She turned her head and saw a peculiar figure clad in a black cloak with a hood concealing their face. The sight of the stranger caused a surge of panic within Alex and she immediately turned to grab her son. However, when she went out to reach him, he was no longer sitting on the park swing.

"Looking for someone?" mocked the stranger as she appeared in front of Alex holding the child.

Alex gasped at the sight of some stranger coddling her son and running their fingers threw his hair.

"What a beautiful baby boy," the stranger cooed in a raspy voice, causing the child to whimper.

"Hand him over right now or I swear I will—"

"Oh, stop now. You're threats don't scare me," the stranger scoffed. "This baby is mine and I'm going to finish what I started with him," the stranger said cynically.

"R-Red Skull?" Alex questioned. Her heart began to pound rapidly at the thought of Red Skull finding her and taking her son away.

"No, Alex," the stranger stated before lifting their hood and pulling off their cloak to reveal their identity.

**************Warning:Semi graphic content up ahead*****

"No," gasped Alex. "It can't be." Alex stared in shock as she saw herself clad in the same baggy shirt and shorts she wore when she was Red Skull's prisoner, butnowthey were covered in blood. "I-I don't understand," Alex uttered in a frightened voice.

"Yes, you do," the Alex covered in blood stated bluntly. "You tried to kill him once and failed. I'm simply finishing the job," she said as she pulled out the same metal spring used to perform the failed abortion and jabbed it into the infant's throat.

"No! Stop!" Alex shouted hysterically. However, her pleas were ignored as she watched herself continue to attack the child.

"Alex, wake up," Steve said as she gently shook her to wake her up from the nightmare she was having.

Alex automatically jolted up and clutched onto her blanket, quickly checking her surroundings as she checked her stomach.

"Thank god. It was just a dream," Alex whispered.

"Alex, are you okay. What happened?" Steve asked with a concerned voice.

"It was nothing. Don't worry about it," Alex replied as she placed a hand over her stomach to make sure that thebaby was safe.

"Don't tell me it was nothing, Alex. You were talking in your sleep and I heard you say 'Red Skull'. You had a dream that he tried to take squishy away didn't you," Steve stated with a hint in his voice.

"I," Alex began unsure if she should tell Steve what actually happened in her dream as well as what she tried to do to their child.

'He can't find out. I know I'm mad at him for never finding me, but if he finds out what I tried to do to our child, he'll hate me for it,' she thought.

"Alex, it's alright you can tell me. I promise he won't harm you or the baby," reassured Steve.

"I know, it's just—he and his doctors did a lot of tests on me. They loved to poke me with various needles and tie me down when I didn't cooperate with them," Alex said as she cleared her throat. "You forcing me to go see a S.H.I.E.L.D doctor kind of brought back some of those memories," Alex stated bitterly.

"Oh. I'm sorry about that," Steve replied apologetically. "But you know it's for the baby and that I would never make you do it if it brought back bad memories."

"Yeah, well, whatever, you weird Dorito," Alex mumbled as she got out of the bed and made her way to the bathroom. "Do we have any breakfast burritos in the freezer?"

"No, but I can make you some. It's the least I can do."

"Kiss-ass," Alex uttered as she turned to face Steve.

"It's called being nice," Steve stated solemnly as he left the room.

When Alex was sure that Steve couldn't hear her, she quietly whispered, "Thank you, Steve," before starting her shower.

"I'll have an egg white omelet with green peppers and onions," Tony joked as he entered the kitchen. Steve, who was beating eggs looked up at Tony gave him a slight glare and uttered, "Very funny. I'm not your chef."

"Then what are you doing in my kitchen? You have your own in that apartment complex Alex made me create when the two of you decided to move in together," Tony pointed out.

"Alex wanted breakfast burritos and we didn't have any eggs," explained Steve as he poured the scrambled eggs into the heated pan on the stove.

"Oh, I see. This is your way of making Alex forgive you. Why didn't I think of that; Alex loves food."

"I'm not trying to win her over. I'm just being a good fiancé and accommodating to her needs, especially since she's eating for two now."

"Fiancé," Tony scoffed. "You honestly think that she's still going to marry you after you let her down like that?"

"She still has the engagement ring I gave her. From what I gather, she hasn't taken it off. I know that over time she'll forgive me. She's already started talking to me a bit and she gave me a new nickname," Steve said hopefully as he added a bit of cheese and bits of hash brown to the omelet and wrapped it in a tortilla, adding it to the pile of burritos he already made.

"Hey, weird Dorito," Alex greeted as she entered the kitchen. "I thought you were making the burritos in our kitchen."

"We didn't have any eggs," Steve began. "So I came—"

"Whatever," Alex interrupted as she took a seat, grabbed a burrito, and took a large bite of it, ignoring Steve and Tony.

"Hey, kiddo, how are you doing?" Tony asked as he took a seat beside his daughter.

"Hmm," Alex replied as she continued to eat her food.

"So you coming to the lab anytime soon? I have a few things that I'm working on that I can use your help with."

Alex said nothing as she looked up from her food and gave Tony a slight glare.

"I have something for you in the lab," Tony stated awkwardly. "It's your bracelet. I set up a homing signal on it to notify me when it's forcibly removed in case something like that happens to you again—"

"Dad, I'm not a kid. You can't buy my forgiveness."

"It worked when you were ten," Tony muttered to which Alex responded by raising an eyebrow at him. "I mean—what do you want from me? You don't talk to me. You don't come to the lab. How am I supposed to make it up to you?"

"I want your Corvette," Alex responded plainly.

"What?" Tony asked in confusion.

"I want your Corvette, and your Porsche, and your BMW, and your Cadillac," Alex said as a sinister smile began to form on her mouth.

"Okay…but I thought you said that I can't buy your forgiveness."

"You can't, but letting me have fun with your car could make me forgive you."

"So you want to drive me cars? I'm fine with that."

"Not exactly."

"Then what do you have in mind?"

"Dorito, grab some burritos and meet me in the garage," ordered Alex. " We're going to have some fun."

"Do you have any idea what she's planning?" Tony asked suspiciously.

"Not the faintest idea, but I hope you're not attached to those cars," smiled Steve.

"What are you so smiley about? Huh, dorito?" Tony questioned as he attempted to use the name Alex had used on Steve moment as a way to annoy him.

Steve ignored Tony and smiled as he began packing the burritos he had made.

A/N: That only took forever -_-' and its not even a full chapter I wanted to add more, but I also wanted to post something since I haven't updated in a while. Sorry about that, work is exaughsting. I love my job, but I have no energy to write and it kills my creative flow. Hopefully I'll figure away around it. Also, is anyone here an artist? I really want drawings of Alex and Steve together, but I know a lot of artist get asked that, so I'm willing to pay for drawings. Inbox me if your interested. I wished that there was a website that allowed for artist to get work like this :| so yeah. I'll try to update the other half of this chapter by Tuesday. -Stacey


	19. Chapter 19

"So what exactly do you plan to do with my babies?" Tony questioned as she watched Alex saunter into the garage carrying a bag.

"First of all, you're not Dean Winchester. Your cars are not your babies—I am," Alex stated firmly as she placed the controllers on the work bench. "Secondly, I thought you wanted me to forgive you," she pointed out.

"I do, but I have no idea what you're planning to do."

"Nothing I haven't done before," Alex replied nonchalantly as she rummaged through the bag and pulled out three X-box controllers and three disks.

"What is that?" questioned Tony as he watched Alex take a controller and a disk and walk over to his black Cadillac.

"That's an X-box controller," echoed Steve's voice as he entered the large garage.

Alex and Tony both turned their heads to see Steve with a half smile on his face and a tray of burritos in his arms.

"What he said," Alex agreed, smiling to herself as she opened the Cadillac and placed the disk in the CD port which caused the car to start up. "Okay . Now let's see if the controllers work," Alex mumbled as she pressed the 'A' button causing the engine to roar. "Yes!" Alex said victoriously.

"Alex, what the hell!" exclaimed Tony in confusion. "How did you—when did you—why did you?"

"To answer your questions: Because I'm a genius, when I was 16 at your house in Malibu, and because you never let me drive your cars," Alex replied. "Only now, instead of driving your cars to the beach, I get to race them against each other in your garage."

"No. I am not having any part of this," Tony announced.

"Fine. Then don't," Alex stated bluntly as she proceeded to grab another controller and click and repeat the process this time with the Porsche. "The Dorito and I will have fun racing each other."

"I thought you were mad at him."

"Oh I am still mad at him," answered Alex as she walked over to Steve and grabbed a burrito from the tray he had. "I'm _very _mad at him, but he did what I asked him to, so I'll play nice with him," she continued as she viciously took a large bite of her food. "_For now_."

"Do you want the Cadillac or the Porsche?" Alex asked Steve as she took another large bite from her burrito.

"I'll take the Porsche. I know how much you like your dad's Cadillac," Steve replied as he grabbed the second controller. "So how are we doing this?"

"It's just like Mario Karts," explained Alex. "Only we'll be using actual cars and you don't get to be Mario."

"Can I be Princess Peach then?" joked Steve which caused Alex to half-smile.

As Tony watched the two talking and getting along, he thought back to what Steve had said earlier. That no matter how mad Alex was at him, or Steve, or anyone else for that matter, over time she'd warm back up to them. Alex had already paved a road of forgiveness for him. All he had to do was walk across it even if it meant possibly damaging some of his nice cars.

'_Having Alex not ignore me is worth it_,' Tony tried to convince himself.

"Alex!" Tony called out. "You're a brat, and you need to grow up, and you're lucky that I never found out about you taking my cars as a teenager, otherwise I would have grounded you for three months."

"Dad, you only ever had me for a few weeks at a time," Alex pointed out.

"And you're a wise-ass sometimes," Tony continued as he made his way over to her and grabbed the third remote.

"So…you're going to play with us?" Alex asked with a smirk on her face.

"No. I'm going to beat you guys."

* * *

><p>"I don't see how this is anything like Mario Karts," Tony stated bluntly. "We've just been doing loops around the garage."<p>

"Well, it's not my fault that you don't have any ramps or obstacles for us to go through," remarked Alex as she continued to maneuver the Cadillac around the edge of the garage.

"Well then I'm sorry for not making any obstacles or ramps or whatever. I just wanted a normal garage so that I could park my cars in I didn't plan on having to race them against one another."

"Apology accepted, but your garage is still boring. You're a genius, you should have anticipated something like this happening," Alex sighed.

"Well, is there anything else that these controls can do? Did you make them so you can rig the car to spill oil out, or have a power boost, or something?" Steve asked curiously.

"No."Alex responded. "I only wanted to be able to drive. I didn't think I would have a need to make it do anything fancy."

"Don't you think you should have anticipated needing to do something fancy?" questioned Tony.

"Very funny, dad, but even if I made it so that the cars could jump, or go turbo, or shoot out oil, I would have probably wrecked your car. I mean— I can barely go in reverse without bumping into…wait a minute," Alex said as a sly grin began to form on her mouth.

"Alex, what are you—" Tony began to ask before he stopped mid sentence at the sight of his black Cadillac make an abrupt stop before it began to move in reverse.

"There," Alex stated with a hint of mischief in her voice. "Now it's an obstacle course…at least for the two of you."

"God dammit, Alex. You're going to kill someone," Tony complained as he tried to maneuver the Corvette to avoid hitting his other two cars.

"Dad, relax, it's not like we're actually driving the cars. We're on the observation deck," Alex pointed out. "The worst that can happen is a little fender bender and that's only if the two of you can't doge me," continued Alex as she decided to make a sharp left turn, nearly hitting the Porsche Steve had been controlling.

"Okay, that right there could have been an accident."

"But it wasn't, Tony, and even if it was, I'm sure that it's nothing you can't fix," stated Steve.

"Really that's your defense?" asked Tony.

"Yes. Is that a problem? Besides, Alex is having fun. Does having your cars a little banged up really mean that much to you?"

"It's not about the cars. Sure, I'll be pretty upset if Alex decides to crash into one of my cars, but I'll be more upset because I know she's only doing it to try to get back at me."

"What's wrong with that?" Alex asked irritated.

"Alex," Tony sighed as he slowed down his car and parked it in the middle of the garage. "Why are you doing this?"

"What do you mean why?" scoffed Alex. "I'm doing this to get back at you, duh. I'm doing this because I'm mad at you. You let me down, so now I'm going to try to destroy your cars."

"But I've let you down so many times before," replied Tony.

"I don't think you're helping your case," mentioned Steve.

"Let me finish," Tony said in a firm voice. "Alex— I let you down more times than I can count, but I've always made it up to you."

"Yeah, by buying me toys so that I would forget that I was mad at you."

"That's not entirely true," defended Tony. "When I didn't take you to see Santa when you were six and you cried about it, I dressed up as Santa on Christmas day to surprise you. And when I didn't take you to the science fair for you to demonstrate your rocket, I got my friends in the Hall of Science to put your rocket on display for one of their exhibits. And—"

"What's your point, dad?" interrupted Alex as she put the Cadillac to an immediate stop. "That was then. This is now."

"My point is that, every time I've let you down, I haven't just made it up to you. I've made sure that you got what you really needed whether it was to see something magical or feel like you could make amazing things and I'm going to make sure that you get whatever it is that you really need— whatever it is," explained Tony.

Alex stood silently as she took in Tony's words. She knew that he had a point and that he would do his best to give her whatever it was that she truly needed from him. However, she wasn't exactly sure what it was that she needed.

"Alex, you okay?" Steve asked as he put down his controller after having also stopped his car.

Alex did not respond. Instead she looked at the floor trying to figure out exactly what it was that she had wanted.

"Alex," Steve repeated as he slowly approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she replied as she directed her gaze from the ground to the two men in front of her. "When I was taken I needed someone to save me—I needed Steve to break me out of my prison cell and you to drive the getaway vehicle."

"Why do I have to drive the getaway vehicle?" muttered Tony.

"I don't need that anymore. I saved myself, and now I'm fine for the most part, but I'm scared shitless. I'm having a baby and if it wasn't bad enough that I'm not sure I'm going to be a good mom, I also have to worry about the well being of my son and if Red Skull is going to try to take him away," Alex stated, her voice going from a calm one to one of panic.

"Alex, breath. The fact that you're worried about your kid shows that you're going to be a great mom so you don't have to worry about that," assured Steve.

"Okay, but what about Red Skull? He kidnapped me once before."

"He got lucky once before," Tony replied. "If Red Skull or any of his henchmen even think about trying to take you or junior, they're going to answer to me. I'll be your security system so that you don't have to worry. Okay, Alex?"

Alex half-laughed at how much of an over protective dad Tony sounded like and then she realized what it was what she needed from him.

"Thanks for that and thank you for being over protective and caring about me and Squishy. I forgive you."

"Who's Squishy?" Tony asked before he felt a pair of arms wrap around him.

"That's what I'm calling your grandson for now, idiot," Alex remarked.

"I never heard of that one before, but okay. What made you cave?"

"I didn't cave," defended Alex. "You just gave us exactly what we needed."

"Us?" Tony questioned.

"I think she means her and Squishy," Steve explained.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Alex begun. "But yes, dad, us. I need you to be you and that's an over protective father, not a little wimp that's so worried about me being mad at them that they'll let me smash their things."

"Okay…so what does squishy or whatever his name is need?"

"He's going to need a grandfather that cares about him like you clearly do."

"Okay, but what about Steve? Isn't your son also going to need a dad that cares about him and loves him?" Tony asked as he pressed his luck and attempted to get Alex to forgive the both of them.

"Yeah," dragged Alex. "But—"

"But what? Steve's done more for you than I have. You should forgive him already."

Alex stared at Steve for a minute. She noted him biting the edge of his lip as if wanting to say something, but uncertain of what to say.

"Alex I—"

"I'm sorry Steve," interrupted Alex. "I know you've been really trying to make me happy and I've been nothing but a bitch but, I'm not ready to forgive you yet. I haven't got what I needed from you yet."

"Well, then tell me what it that you need. I promise I'll be that for you or do it for you or whatever it is."

"I can't," Alex responded as she began to make her way out of the garage. "I don't know what it is yet."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wow, that only took forever . I'm so sorry about that I just haven't had the urge or inspiration to write for all those months, but I'm back and hopefully I'll get this thing going. Also, I've been getting a lot of comments about Alex being a bitch. Yeah, she is but she working on that (I mean she already forgave her dad. Give her some time). -Stace**


	20. Chapter 20

Alex sat anxiously at a café table stirring a cup of hot chocolate that she had ordered. As she stirred her beverage, she tried to figure out how she was going to explain things— the horrible secret that had been eating at her since she had arrived in New York.

Alex let out a small sigh as she checked the time. _'They're late—Maybe this wasn't a good idea,_' she thought as she got up from her seat and began to collect her belongings.

"Where do you think you're going, Alex?" asked a voice from behind her.

Alex turned her head for a moment before she responded, "You were late, Monica, so I was going to run away and avoid this conversation."

"Don't be an ass. I finally got you to have a real conversation about what's bothering you; you're not getting away that easily. Now sit down and tell me how you've been."

"I thought we were going to talk about what's bothering me," Alex replied slightly confused.

"We are, but I'm not going to make you jump into that yet. You're probably still trying to figure out how to tell me."

"You're right," sighed Alex as she sat down. "I've been okay. The baby's doing fine. I have a doctor's appointment in a few days. Everything has been more or less the same. Anyway, what's new with you, Monica?"

Monica removed her coat and scarf and placed them on the chair across from Alex before she sat down. "Oh you know, same old, same old," answered Monica nonchalantly.

"Really, Monica?" scoffed Alex. "What about your research? And your roommate? And didn't you and Sam hit it off before the wedding? You honestly expect me to believe everything's been the same?"

"I don't know, Alex. Do you honestly expect me to believe everything is more or less the same with you?" countered Monica. "I've talked to Steve. I know things haven't been going great between the two of you; that's not like you guys."

"He let me down, Monica."

"But he tried. He didn't sit on his ass and do nothing. He did everything in his power to find you and you know that. Besides, I know that Steve trying means more to you than anything so it's more than just him letting you down."

"I know he tried," Alex replied. "I know that what happened to me was not his fault and it was beyond his control. I know how terrible he feels about it. I know that he's tried everything to try to make me happy and make sure that I'm safe so that I would forgive him— you know that he keeps his shield close by him when he's sleeping because he's scared that someone is going to try to take me in my sleep?"

"Then why are you still mad at him?" asked Monica with a hint of frustration in her voice. "It doesn't make any sense."

"I'm mad at him because I need a reason to avoid him. I'm mad at him because I'm mad at myself and redirecting it to him so that he doesn't find out what I did," responded Alex with unevenness in her voice looking down in shame

"Alex," Monica said in a reassuring voice as she placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. "What did you do?"

Alex looked up at her friend and let out a small sigh before she uttered, "I tried to get rid of him."

* * *

><p>Steve stared at the ceiling of the room Alex and he used to share as he tried to think of ways he could mend things with Alex.<p>

'_Food seems to make her happy,'_ he thought. _'But that's only because she has cravings every five minutes. Besides, me bringing Alex food is not going to make her happy when she has to deal with a newborn in a few months.'_

Then it hit him.

"I'm going to be a dad soon," Steve said to himself as he sat up from the bed.

All this time Steve had been focusing on Alex and their relationship when he should have been focusing on the needs of his child. Although it was four more months until she was due, there were still so many things to do in preparation.

'_Well, if I can't be the person that Alex needs me to be then that's too bad I can worry about that later, but I'm sure as hell going to be and do everything my son needs and hopefully Alex will see that,'_ Steve thought as he got off the bed. _'And I know exactly where to start.'_

* * *

><p>"And that's pretty much everything," croaked Alex as tears began to stream down her eyes.<p>

Monica swiftly got up from her seat, made her way behind Alex, and wrapped her arms tightly around her friend. "It's not your fault, Alex. You can't blame yourself for that."

"Yes, it is my fault. I'm the one that made the decision so that makes me the one to blame," Alex pointed out, wiping away her tears.

"No, it doesn't. And even if that's what you think, that doesn't mean that that's what Steve's going to think," Monica pointed out. "He'll understand."

"No, he won't. He'll just hate me for it and leave," Alex sighed.

"Alex, you know that Steve's not that kind of person."

"I know, but—"

"But nothing; stop making excuses for yourself," Monica stated in a firm voice. "You have to tell him."

"Okay, I will," sighed Alex half telling the truth. She did want to tell Steve, but she wasn't ready to yet. She knew that she had to wait for the right time and that time wasn't now.

"Good," Monica replied as she gave Alex another hug and then proceeded to collect her belongings. "I have to go back to work, but call me and let me know how everything goes. And try to be nicer to Steve. Being a complete ass to him before you tell him isn't going to help your case."

"I don't think there's anything that can help my case. Even if I am nice to him, I'm still going to end up telling him that I tried to kill our baby and he's not going to handle it well," Alex pointed out.

"Okay, but do you think he's take the news better from a person that cares about him and shows it or from a person that's been nothing but a jerk?"

"From a caring person," Alex sighed in defeat. "I hate that you're always right about these things."

"I know," grinned Monica as she began to exit the café. "I'll talk to you soon okay."

* * *

><p>"Steve!" Alex called out as she entered their apartment. She immediately made her way to the kitchen and began to rummage through the fridge.<p>

"Alex, is that you?" Steve responded from somewhere.

"Yeah, can you come to the kitchen?" asked Alex as she took out some left over lasagna.

"What is it?"

"Can you empty out the oven for me? I was going to heat up the left over lasagna for us."

"Us?" questioned Steve as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, us. You need to eat too, don't you? I figured that if I was going to warm up food for myself I might as well do it for you as well. Unless you want to eat something else; I'm down for anything right now," Alex replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

"No, lasagna is fine," responded Steve as he opened the oven and began to remove the pots and pans.

Alex watched him as she tried to think of something to say to start a conversation when she noticed streaks of paint on the sides of his pants.

"What's with the paint smears on your clothes, Picasso?" Alex joked. "I thought you only did sketches."

Steve paused what he was doing to look at his clothes and saw the random smears and splatters of the paint he had been using earlier.

"I was working on a project. I must have accidently got some on me."

"Well, normally I would tell you to keep it in your pants, but I don't think that applies here," teased Alex. "Try to keep clean next time, okay?"

"You know aside from that innuendo, you sound just like a mom."

"Yeah, well I'm going to be a mom soon," Alex sighed. "So I guess that's a good thing."

"You don't make it sound like it's a good thing," mentioned Steve. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. It's just that I was talking to Monica earlier today," babbled Alex. "I was telling her something and she said that I should tell you what I told her, but I'm not exactly sure if I can."

"Alex, you know you can tell me anything," Steve said reassuringly hoping that it would make Alex feel comfortable telling him whatever news it was.

Alex looked down at the tray of food she was holding to avoid Steve's gaze. 'It's now or never,' she thought as she let out a breath and looked up to face Steve.

"I wanted to know if you would come with me to my doctor's appointment," Alex blurted out causing Steve to look at her confused.

"Really? That's what the two of you talked about?" questioned Steve.

"Well, we talked about other things, like baby stuff, her job, how she thinks I should be nice to you," Alex half-lied as she purposely avoided bringing up the main topic of her and Monica's conversation.

"And that's why you're making dinner for us? Because Monica said you should be nice to me?" Steve teased.

"No, I'm making us dinner because we need to eat. If I was being nice the way Monica said I should be, then I'd be letting you sleep on the bed," Alex explained as she turned on the oven and put the cold lasagna in. "So will you go with me or not?"

"I'll go with you. I don't know why you would make such a big deal about it."

'_Because it's a lie. That's not what I needed to tell you'_ Alex thought.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I didn't know how you would react after how I've been treating you."

"Well, I'm not going to hold that against you. I want us to be able to put that behind us and focus on what's important."

"Thanks, Steve. And as stubborn and mad as I am about everything that has happened, I just want what's best for our child; and I am glad that you're not going to hold anything against me," Alex responded.

'_I just hope you feel the same way once you find out what I did.' _

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wow. so that only took forever for my friend to edit. Although to be fair, she said she didn't edit because there was no rush because I wasn't writing the next chapter but I was waiting for her to edit this chapter before I started working on the next one so I was at a stale mate. I make no promises to when I'm going to update next so don't be mad I'm sorry :/ I only write when I have the time and motivation so yeah v.v**


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